Marijuana.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As a lifelong Michigan resident, small-business owner, and friend to people whose lives have been changed by medical marijuana, I am deeply concerned about the inability for registered patients to safely access this potentially life-saving medication.

For the past seven years, the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, approved overwhelmingly by Michigan’s voters in 2008, has provided some protections for patients, but not for the caregivers or the businesses who serve them.

I am sure we agree that patients, due to their serious illness, deserve to use medical marijuana as a complementary therapy.

However, without a regulatory structure that allows cultivators, processors, testing facilities and provisioning centers to lawfully operate, there is no way to get safe medical cannabis to patients, and this is hurting patients, their families, and our state.

Despite this complete lack of regulation, many legitimate, responsible businesses have forged ahead out of a deep concern...