Medical cannabis users wondering how to go about obtaining state ID cards when the registration period opens in April need to talk to their physician —and by "physician" I mean an M.D. or D.O.-licensed in Michigan — right bloody now.

Do not hesitate, get on the phone and start your due diligence regarding your own medico-legal status. You'll need time to get paperwork in order, and if your physician is not yet fully informed about the law and its protections you may meet our classic foes, Fear and Loathing. We're hearing of physicians who don't want to hear it.

Here's the bottom line: If your physician will certify your need for cannabis, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Assonication believes you will indeed receive medical quality cannabis, and will stand by your effort to do so.

But you have to start with your physician. Now.

You can find all the information, forms, and personal support you need at http:// michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/. Once you register (anonymously, if you wish), all the information we gather is available, and you are free to talk with anyone in the public forums we host there.

There were some interesting developments this month, notably the American College of Physicians’ shift in policy to openly endorse rescheduling of cannabis and the ending of DEA attacks on medical cannabis programs. The American College of Physicians is second only to the American Medical Assoication in size and heft, and its open call for an end to arbitrary restrictions on cannabis research is a serious blow against the prior restraint which has all but killed truly independent research in the United States.

This month has also brought good news from discussions with the Social Security Administration and with independent Indian health and family service agencies. The former assured us that eligibility of patients enrolled in state programs such as ours will not bar benefits. There have been reports in the past of denials, and our associaion is watchful. Chats with Indian health and family service providers have been wonderfully encouraging, uniformly noting the appropriateness of cannabis to culturally embedded regimes of natural medicine and healing.

Please visit the MMMA Web site at www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org.