07/13/2026
Michigan Supreme Court: Ma*****na use can’t be banned as probation condition
USA Today Network via Reuters//July 7, 2026//
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State trial courts can no longer ban ma*****na use as a condition of probation, under a unanimous ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court on July 6.
In People v. Hess, the court found that lower courts erroneously cited federal ma*****na laws when deciding if it was legal to ban ma*****na use while on probation. Recreational ma*****na has been legal in Michigan for those 21 and older since 2018. The state also allows medical ma*****na for qualifying patients.
In a unanimous opinion, Justice Elizabeth M. Welch cited the 2014 case Ter Beek v. City of Wyoming, in which the court ruled the state’s medical ma*****na laws at the time preempted a federal ban on ma*****na use.
Because the Supreme Court already ruled Michigan’s medical ma*****na law preempted a federal ban on ma*****na, that preemption should apply to the state’s recreational ma*****na law as well, Welch wrote.
“The (Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Ma*****na Act) provides that MRTMA-compliant use of ma*****na shall not be grounds for arrest, prosecution, penalty, search, or the denial of any right or privilege. And when the MRTMA conflicts with state laws — including the probation act — the MRTMA controls,” she wrote. “Rather than looking to state law, the Court of Appeals incorrectly deferred to the federal bar on ma*****na use. In so doing, the panel failed to apply the preemption principles we elucidated in Ter Beek. Those principles make clear that federal law barring recreational ma*****na use does not preempt the MRTMA.”
The ruling does not apply to probation sentences handed down in federal courts, Welch noted.
In August 2021, Danielle Heaven-Leah Hess pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree retail fraud, and was sentenced to one year of probation. The probation order prohibited Hess from using or possessing ma*****na, and required that she submit to ma*****na drug screenings. On two occasions in 2022, she tested positive for ma*****na, resulting in two violations of her probation.
Hess pleaded guilty to the first probation violation, but following the second violation, she asked the district court to amend the terms of her probation to allow the use and possession of ma*****na, to remove her first violation, and to dismiss her second violation, arguing that the condition of prohibiting ma*****na use during probation violated state law.
The district court upheld its ruling, as did a Court of Appeals panel later. But the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the decision and sent the case back to the Court of Appeals with a direction to amend Hess’ probation terms, vacate the first probation violation, and dismiss the second violation.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Supreme Court: W**d use can’t be banned as probation condition
