Pubdate: Sun, 21 Nov 2010
Source: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (MI)
Copyright: 2010 Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Kk1qVKJf
Website: http://www.livingstondaily.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4265
Author: Scott Davis
Referenced: The Statute http://drugsense.org/url/8mvr7sW8
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana

DISMISSAL SOUGHT IN MARIJUANA CASE

An Ingham County judge will decide whether to throw out charges 
against a man accused of illegally dealing medical marijuana in what 
could be a test case for how the herb can be dispensed in Michigan.

Circuit Judge James Giddings said Friday he would render his decision 
in the coming weeks after the attorney for the Rev. Frederick W. 
Dagit, 61, contended charges should be dismissed under a provision of 
the nearly two-year-old law on medical marijuana. Prosecutors asked 
Giddings to declare that provision unconstitutional.

Dagit, of Meridian Township, is charged with two counts of possession 
with intent to deliver between 11 and 99 pounds of marijuana; growing 
20 or more marijuana plants; maintaining a drug house and misdemeanor 
possession of marijuana.

The key question is whether Dagit, who admits he supplied marijuana 
to the Green Leaf Smokers medical marijuana club in Williamstown 
Township, ought to stand trial on allegations that he agreed to buy 
50 pounds of marijuana May 26 from an undercover police informant and 
kept 41 marijuana plants in his home. Dagit said 12 of the plants 
were to treat his own ailments.

The statute clearly sets limits on the amounts of marijuana allowed. 
Patients can grow up to 12 marijuana plants and have 2.5 ounces of 
marijuana for themselves, or a caregiver to grow up to 12 plants for 
up to five patients each.

But James White, Dagit's attorney, said the statute also states a 
judge "shall" dismiss charges if he or she finds the quantity of 
marijuana seized was necessary to medically treat a patient's ailment.

How much marijuana this means is unclear -- most witnesses Friday 
agreed -- but Dagit testified that the club dispensed "least 4 or 5 
pounds" of marijuana daily at the club.

"These are very sick people. ... A hundred to 120 people used the 
facility on a daily basis," White said. "Was Mr. Dagit's behavior 
criminal? The marijuana the police brought to his house was going to 
be taken to the club."

But Assistant Prosecutor Guy Sweet dismissed the statute provision as 
"crazy," "ridiculous," vague and unenforceable, saying the judge 
should declare it unconstitutional.

"Somebody could park a pickup truck in their garage filled with bales 
of marijuana and say, 'This is amount of marijuana I need for 
treatment until I die,' " Sweet said. "This statute isn't fair to 
anybody. Nobody knows what it means, and nobody can enforce it."

Giddings questioned whether Sweet had standing to ask that the 
provision be declared unconstitutional because he isn't a defendant 
in the case.

Since the state implemented the marijuana act in April 2009, both 
patients who use medical marijuana and authorities have criticized 
the law as being overly vague. This year, a number of medical 
marijuana dispensaries have sprouted in Ingham County -- such as the 
Green Leaf Smokers Club -- although critics have maintained that the 
statute doesn't authorize their creation.

The Green Leaf club was raided by police the same day that Dagit was 
arrested, but authorities allowed the club to continue to operate.

Before the hearing, Terry Clark, a Williamston man who used to 
frequent the club as a medical marijuana patient, said he believes 
authorities unfairly targeted Dagit.

"The only reason they went after him was because they're mad the law 
was passed," Clark said. "(Dagit) is outspoken. They don't like it 
when you're outspoken." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake