GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Michael Tuffelmire did not want his mother using opioids during her fight with cancer.
"She developed breast cancer, which she survived once but it came back. To keep a quality of life, to keep an appetite, to numb the pain of such a painful type of cancer, she went to medical marijuana," says Tuffelmire.
But now Tuffelmire is afraid that some patients in West Michigan soon won't have a safe way to get their medicine.
"We're talking about patients like local veterans who are dealing with PTSD, or others who may have lost a limb and can't easily get around," says Tuffelmire.
Those fears come from Michigan's medical marijuana licensing board saying they will not be able to process all applications by the Sept. 15 deadline. More than 600 businesses have applied for a license and only a handful have been approved.
Emerald City Provisioning Center in Ottawa County sent 13 ON YOUR SIDE a statement on Monday night, which reads in part, "If this is not done, many of our most vulnerable and needy patients would have long drives, long lines, and short supplies at best, while the vast geographic majority of the state would have no feasible access to medicine at all."
And with no plans to extend the deadline, some fear patients will turn to the black market.
"Marijuana patients have the card because they don't want to break the law. They would like the state to help them and the industry so they don't have to break the law to get their medicine," says Tuffelmire.
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