Pubdate: Wed, 10 Nov 2010
Source: City Pulse (Lansing, MI)
Copyright: 2010 City Pulse
Contact:  http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4532
Author: Andy Balaskovitz
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)

'SAFE HARBOR'

Lansing Is Working to Regulate Medical Marijuana Businesses Amid 
Dispensary Crackdowns in Southeast Michigan

After nine people were arrested in Metro Detroit for operating a 
medical marijuana dispensary, it's hard not to think about the fate 
of the 16 similar businesses within the city of Lansing.

On Aug. 25, the Oakland County drug enforcement team raided Clinical 
Relief in Ferndale. Nine people were arrested and await a potential 
trial on felony drug manufacturing charges. An undercover officer 
used a fake medical marijuana card to make purchases at Clinical 
Relief. Two dispensaries in Waterford Township and several private 
residences -- also in Oakland County -- were also raided that day, 
leading to six more arrests.

Ironically, on the same day, Clinical Relief opened a second location 
at 2617 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing. But recently it changed its 
name, to Relief Choices of Lansing.

Jake, who owns and operates Relief Choices of Lansing, said he 
changed the name partly because of the raids. Jake, who would not 
give his last name, volunteered at the Ferndale dispensary for about 
two months. He is 35, commutes from Oakland County and knows all of 
the "Ferndale Nine," as they're being called.

Jake straddles the line between nervousness and comfort when it comes 
to operating a medical marijuana business in Ingham County.

Dispensaries -- compassion clubs, as they are euphemistically called 
- -- are not even mentioned in the law. Some take that to mean they are 
illegal. Others reason that if they are operated by caregivers and 
patients who are selling to other caregivers and patients, then they 
are legal. The law says says patients cannot be arrested for engaging 
in "medical use," which is defined as the "acquisition, possession, 
cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession, delivery, 
transfer, or transportation" of cannabis.

The law also says that caregivers can be reimbursed the costs of 
growing the plant and that each caregiver can have up to five 
patients. The maximum per patient is 12 plants and 2 1/2 ounces of 
usable product.

If you are a patient and a caregiver for five other patients, you 
could legally possess up to 72 plants and 15 ounces.

For anyone that has seen cannabis, that's a lot. It also creates an 
"overage" of what's allowed. So if a patient happens to be running a 
dispensary and reasons that patient-to-patient transfers are legal, 
out pops a lucrative business opportunity.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard has said that the marijuana was 
sold illegally at the three dispensaries and that the state law is 
inadequate because it does not explain how sales fit into the equation.

Jake believes what happened in Ferndale was meant to be a test case 
on whether dispensaries are part of what voters approved when 63 
percent of them decided in 2008 to allow medical marijuana in Michigan.

"I can understand and appreciate looking at the judicial system for 
guidance," Jake said. "But I don't agree with their methods (of raids)."

Knowing the Ferndale operation closely, Jake said its owners "never 
stepped outside of their boundaries" as far as plant limits and 
keeping usable product on-site. This makes him "definitely affected" 
by the raids.

"It seems like everyone is holding their breath now. I'd be lying if 
I said what happened in Oakland County didn't scare the pants off 
me," Jake said, adding that he does not believe he is operating an 
illegal business. "I wouldn't be in the business if I thought I was. 
This is not some joke -- it's a legal business."

Meanwhile, Lansing City Attorney Brig Smith has a draft ordinance 
sitting in the Public Safety Committee that he refers to as "volume 
two" of regulating medical marijuana in Lansing.

The four-page draft defines "compassionate care centers" -- not 
dispensaries -- as "an entity that operates and controls a medical 
marihuana establishment." They are comprised of caregivers and 
qualifying patients who pay membership dues. It must be incorporated 
as a nonprofit, providing physician and/or attorney recommendations 
or "other services indicating a bona fide service-oriented 
relationship between the compassionate care center and its members."

Under the draft, centers could only be located in "F" or "F-1" 
commercial districts as long as it's not within 1,000 feet of a 
public or private school (from elementary to university) or within 
100 feet of a youth center, public swimming pool or "video arcade 
facility." Violators would be subject to a misdemeanor with fines up 
to $500 or up to 90 days in jail.

While the ordinance does not grant immunity from state or federal 
law, it does say, "Compliance with this ordinance shall be deemed a 
safe harbor under which compassionate care centers and their members 
can reasonably expect not to face criminal prosecution under the act."

The Lansing City Council passed an ordinance that took effect Sept. 
27 that regulates home occupation caregivers who see patients at home.

Matthew Newburg, who started his own private law practice to 
specialize in medical marijuana cases, says the decision to go after 
these businesses that vaguely operate within the state statute falls 
largely on county prosecutors and sheriffs -- even if the local 
municipality takes steps to regulate them, as Lansing is doing.

In the case of Oakland County, the sheriff and the prosecutor are in 
agreement that dispensaries are illegal, even though Ferndale city 
officials approved Clinical Relief's existence. In Ingham County, 
Newburg says Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth and Prosecutor Stuart 
Dunnings are taking a hands-off approach, at least for now.

"Ingham County is in the information-seeking stage, gathering as much 
information as possible," Newburg said. "It's not as aggressive as 
Oakland County."

Most important, Newburg said an "open dialogue between police and the 
medical marijuana community" on dispensaries needs to happen.

"I hope it's done in a civil way," he added.

"And that everyone comes to terms with the fact that it will be 
difficult to amend (the statute)."

But amending the statute is exactly what most law enforcement wants 
to see, including Wriggelsworth.

"The law needs to be rewritten so everyone understands it," he said. 
"I don't think the group that drafted this had all their lights 
turned on. Maybe that was by design."

Wriggelsworth added that the "paranoia on the part of everybody" that 
police are lurking near these businesses in Ingham County, waiting to 
bust them, is simply not true.

"The idea that there's cops hiding behind trees is wrong," he said.

Wriggelsworth added that he has not received any complaints about the 
businesses in Lansing, and therefore has not acted upon them. He said 
he only works with Dunnings when something "needs to be investigated 
and charged," and he said that has only happened in the case of 
Fredrick Wayne Dagit and an alleged bust of more than 200 pounds of 
marijuana at the Green Leaf Smokers Club in Williamstown Township, 
which Dagit owned.

Dunnings did not return calls for comment.

Eaton County Prosecutor Jeff Sauter said that the inconsistency in 
law enforcement at the county and local level is "unfortunate."

"It's the byproduct of the way the medical marijuana law was 
written," Sauter said.

"From a legal point of view, it's very complex and from a law 
enforcement point of view it's complex and frustrating."

Sauter said he advises deputies to not make arrests if there is a 
state-issued card at the scene to "avoid potential civil liability 
for the officer or department." Robin Schneider, who operates Capitol 
City Compassion Club at 2010 E. Michigan Ave., said she is "very 
comfortable" being a patient and a caregiver in Ingham County.

"As soon as I leave Ingham County, I'm nervous," she said.

Schneider said she has been pulled over by Ingham County police while 
transporting plants and usable product for her patients -- all within 
the legal quantities -- and "it was no problem."

Schneider said the rules at Capitol City Compassion Club are simple: 
"Get a caregiver or get lost."

On Nov. 3, Capital City Caregivers, 2208 E. Michigan Ave., organized 
a bus trip to Ferndale to protest outside of a community center where 
a probable cause hearing was happening for the Ferndale Nine. About 
20 people rode the bus to show support to those who are part of the same cause.

Ryan Basore, founder of Capital City, said "the more the merrier" 
when it comes to medical marijuana businesses in Lansing. While the 
news out of Oakland County and the election of Bill Schuette as 
attorney general -- who led the opposition to the 2008 ballot 
initiative -- is grim for medical marijuana advocates, Basore said 
Ingham County is still a relatively safe place.

For the protesters in Ferndale, the actions by Bouchard were a 
violation of patients' rights.

Twenty-year-old Lansing Community College Student Sierra Porter 
attended last week's rally and is in the process of getting her 
paperwork processed with the state.

"I have a little bit of anxiety, seeing all the different (arrests) 
in Michigan. What if it happens here?" she wonders.

Porter said despite the questions surrounding law enforcement and 
medical marijuana dispensaries, it's nice to be part of a community 
that's supporting each other and not hiding in their basements.

"The thought that I'd have people stand up for me and be supportive, 
that kind of community is pretty cool," she said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake