Pubdate: Sat, 09 Feb 2013
Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI)
Copyright: 2013 The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Contact: http://www.record-eagle.com/opinion/local_story_128175513.html
Website: http://www.record-eagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1336
Author: Anne Stanton
Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.

COURT: SHOPS CAN'T CHARGE FOR PRODUCT

TRAVERSE CITY - Michigan's Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana
users can't buy their medicine at pot shops, a decision that could
shut down Traverse City and Acme businesses set up for such
transactions.

Traverse City Police Capt. Brian Heffner said five marijuana shops in
Traverse City allow the sale of medical marijuana from caregivers to
patients. Typically owners take about a 20 percent cut in sales to
help pay the store's overhead, Heffner said.

Heffner plans to meet with Traverse City medical marijuana shop owners
and explain that police will not allow them to operate outside of the
Supreme Court ruling.

"What that means is they cannot charge for the marijuana they're
selling," Heffner said. "Ultimately they'll have to make a decision to
gratuitously supply patients with marijuana or shut down."

Grand Traverse County Sheriff Tom Bensley said he'll look into the
Acme shop, Great Lakes Helping Hands, and possibly get in touch with
the Traverse Narcotics Team.

"Nothing says they can't be there," he said. "It's the transactions
that could be a violation."

Traverse City Mayor Mike Estes called the court decision a "setback in
common sense," adding that state voters approved marijuana for medical
use. "The worst thing is for the city commission to overreact," Estes
said. "The issue is pretty much in the hands of the state of Michigan
right now. I guess they're going to have to come forward and tell us
what they want us to do."

Estes believes the ruling doesn't necessarily translate into an
enforcement issue.

"It's all up in the air as far as I'm concerned," he
said.

He said the city hasn't experienced problems with the marijuana
dispensaries, which he said are well-regulated and monitored.

"This is not a scenario where someone is coming off the street as they
might in Amsterdam," he said.

The 4-1 court decision Friday is the most significant court ruling
since voters approved marijuana for certain illnesses in 2008. It
means the state's 126,000 approved users must grow their own pot or
have a state-licensed caregiver grow it for them.

The state appeals court declared dispensaries illegal in 2011, but
enforcement has depended on the attitudes of local authorities. Some
communities, including Traverse City, took a hands-off approach while
waiting for the Supreme Court to make the decision.

The case involves a Mount Pleasant dispensary that allowed
medical-marijuana users to sell pot to each other. Isabella County
shut it down as a public nuisance.

The decision likely will hit Mike Hedden, who owns three area
dispensaries, particularly hard. Hedden was featured in a Record-Eagle
article after opening the 223 State Street Boutique & Compassion
Center in Traverse City, which sells fine art, along with providing a
place for marijuana transactions between caregivers and patients.

A reporter visited the East State Street shop on Friday; an employee
stated Hedden would not comment.

Dispensaries and collectives popped up across Michigan after the
state's medical marijuana act passed in 2008. The act allows patients
to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 plants, and permits
designated caregivers to grow and distribute plants to up to five patients.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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