Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jul 2013
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2013 The Detroit News
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Ingrid Jaques
Page: 13

OKEMOS BUSINESSMAN SMOKED BY FEDERAL POT LAW

Dennis Forsberg thought he was doing everything right. He had filed
all the necessary paperwork and cleared his business plan with
attorneys, local government officials and law enforcement. He created
new companies and got a federal tax ID number. He wasn't trying to
hide anything. Yet in the end, he still got burned.

On Tuesday, the 59-year-old Okemos businessman is headed to federal
prison in North Carolina for three years because he found himself in
the dangerous intersection between state and federal marijuana laws.
His son, Lance, has already started serving a three-year sentence in
West Virginia.

"We worked so hard to be transparent," Forsberg says. "But it worked
against us."

Forsberg's error was leasing some of the buildings owned by the family
real estate company to licensed growers, or caregivers, under
Michigan's medical marijuana law. Now instead of enjoying retirement
and spoiling grandchildren, the father of four will spend years away
from his family and life - even though everything he did was legal
under state law. He's outraged.

"The crime and punishment don't make sense," Forsberg says. "I had a
great track record, and they do this to good people who think they are
under the law."

Forsberg's wife, JoAnn, faces a lonely three years without her husband
of nearly 40 years and her son. Plus, the couple still have two
children in college, and finances will be tight with Forsberg behind
bars. "We got caught in a trap between state and federal law," she
says.

The case highlights the tension between state and federal drug law.
Michigan is one of 18 states, in addition to Washington, D.C., that
have passed medical marijuana laws. And recently, Colorado and
Washington state legalized the recreational use of marijuana. No
matter what states do, however, marijuana is still illegal under
federal law. The drug is classified as a Schedule I substance, which
places marijuana on par with heroin and ecstasy.

Forsberg justifiably feels betrayed by the state - and country - he
loves, and he wants to get the word out to others who may think about
getting involved in medical marijuana. He says the state didn't
communicate the huge risks involved. "We just want to help other
families," he says.

The Obama administration has said it doesn't want the Justice
Department to go after people who are abiding by state medical
marijuana laws. That leaves Forsberg scratching his head. Because when
federal agents stormed his property, it definitely seemed like he was
a target. Matthew Abel, an attorney for Cannabis Counsel in Detroit
and executive director of Michigan's chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Dennis Forsberg, 59, took the
Obama administration at its word that compliance with state marijuana
laws wouldn't bring federal prosecution. That was a mistake. Laws,
says both state and federal marijuana laws need adjusting. Efforts
under way in both the state Legislature and Congress could help, and
they deserve lawmakers' support.

"It's very unfair that some are prosecuted and some are not," Abel
says.

The Forsberg family feels that unfairness acutely. The economic
downtown of 2008 had hit the business hard. Real estate tanked, so
when Forsberg started getting calls in early 2010 about leasing some
space for growing medical marijuana, he decided he might as well. It
was legal after all in Michigan. But by November of that year, the
Drug Enforcement Administration raided his buildings and Forsberg had
13 federal indictments against him.

"It was scary, terrifying," he says. "I was just devastated."

Court records from May show that U.S. District Judge Janet Neff, with
the Western District of Michigan, felt some sympathy. "This was
certainly an atypical drug case," she said. Neff also noted the
attempts to comply with state law and acknowledged the situation was a
"perfect storm for all of you."

That's not much consolation for Forsberg, who sees his days as a free
man dwindling.

Forsberg, soft-spoken and fatherly, says he's never had any previous
run ins with the law, so this sentence came as harsh wake-up call. He
was treated like a drug kingpin, rather than the law-abiding citizen
he tried to be. Forsberg and his wife describe themselves as proud
Americans, Christians, volunteers and hard-working business owners.
Felon isn't something they wanted to add to that list.

"Our family has been devastated," Forsberg says. "As a father, it's
like tearing some of my heart out."
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