Terry J. Nolan is back.

After a bruising seven years in career exile, Muskegon County's best-known private attorney is about to make a fresh start.

Nolan, 51, regained his long-suspended law license last week. On Nov. 23, he will open a solo practice called Nolan Law Offices, PLLC, at 1 E. Apple.

This week -- for the first time since his cocaine-fueled spinout in a humiliating glare of publicity in 2002-03 -- Nolan agreed to be interviewed by a reporter about his experiences.

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Steven Karapandza says his use of prescription marijuana to help ease the pain of daily migraine headaches is none of his boss's business.

He never smokes pot on the job. He doesn't come to work high, and he gets his work done without fail, he said.

"In my mind, it's like any other medication," said Karapandza, 28, a Sterling Heights, Mich., resident and cell phone repairman. "You wouldn't go up to your boss and tell him you've got a prescription for Vicodin."

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When the Express ran a cover story of Archie Kiel growing medical marijuana plants in Antrim County, people overwhelmingly responded with letters and phone calls with their own stories of marijuana and the law.

The following story is about the late Trevor Coddington and his odyssey through the Grand Traverse County probate system. It is by no means typical, but does show the consequences that attach not only to the child, but also to the family.

Part II is coming in November.

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Cops: Commercial Truck Was Found To Be Moving 3,693 Pounds Of Pot From Illinois After Failing To Stop At Weigh Station

BRIDGMAN - A state police motor carrier officer made the biggest pot bust in west Michigan history Thursday, state police announced Friday.

Sgt. Linda Shinsky of the state police Traffic Safety Division said police found $3.6 million worth of marijuana hidden inside copy paper boxes being transported in a commercial truck on Interstate 94.

Shinsky said a motor carrier officer from the Bridgman state police post stopped the truck after it bypassed the weigh station on eastbound I-94 near New Buffalo. The two-axle truck was traveling from Wheeling, Ill., to Allen Park, Shinsky said. The driver and a passenger, whom police did not identify pending a court appearance on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, were taken to the Berrien County jail, police said.

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Authorities: Vast Wooded Areas Draw Traffickers

Growing illegal marijuana in Michigan is big business, and despite the best efforts of law enforcement, it may be getting bigger.

State law enforcement officials say they believe Mexican drug traffickers are expanding from California into Michigan, noting the discovery of two apparent Mexican marijuana growing operations on state land in northern Michigan within the past year.

State Police Detective 1st Lt. David Peltomaa, coordinator for Operation HEMP, the state's marijuana eradication program, said Mexican traffickers may be attracted to states like Michigan and Wisconsin to start operations because they have vast wooded areas where growing can go undetected.

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Entrepreneur Trains Caregivers on Issues of Medical Marijuana

Nick Tennant intends to cash in on what he believes is literally a booming "green" growth industry: medical marijuana.

Tennant is the founder and president of Southfield-based Med Gro Cannabis College, a new trade school offering training courses for adults interested in becoming state-qualified caregivers under the medical marijuana law.

His idea to open such a school was in anticipation of voters last November approving state-regulated therapeutic use of marijuana for people suffering from specific chronic medical conditions. He began organizing the school in December.

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SHOULD POLICING MARIJUANA BE THE CITY'S 'LOWEST ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY?'

The next City Commission could be asked to consider a measure that would make policing marijuana the city's "lowest enforcement priority." Would you support or oppose such a measure? Why?

David F. Anderson: I am uncomfortable with the idea of the City Commission attempting to dictate enforcement protocols to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. I am sure that every day the chief and his staff make decisions as to how limited resources can best be used to keep residents and property safe. Recent priorities, such as reducing youth violence, have been positive. The city manager, who reports to the City Commission, works closely with the chief to create a long-range plan that guides education, incorporates best practices and builds partnerships. I support their ongoing efforts.

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EDITOR:

Jeff Racine, Commander of UPSET: "Some patients, as well as some caregivers who are allowed to grow pot, are abusing the law and obtaining permits through fraud. This deception is creating more problems for law enforcement in Michigan and the other states which have enacted medical marijuana laws."

Excuse me!! Is he saying that the Michigan Dept. of Health is committing fraud? Just what does he know that they don't know? You have to tame your ego Mr. Racine! At least three counties up there are not buying into your lying rhetoric! All this waste of our tax money while Lansing cries that we have none and cuts health, education and welfare for those that need it the most. And for what? Just to pull a plant out of the ground?

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More than 20,000 college applicants were declined eligibility to receive financial aid in 2006 because of drug convictions on their records. Of those 20,000, 6,722 were from Michigan.

Those students were declined because of the Higher Education Act's Aid Elimination Penalty passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1998. For more than a decade, students who have applied for federal aid have been required to reveal past drug convictions.

On Sept. 17 students at Grand Valley State University had a chance to make their voices heard about a bill going through the House of Representatives to keep the Aid Elimination Penalty intact.

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As an enthusiastic young man running for one of the seven seats this year on the Kalamazoo City Commission, Louis Stocking is taking a stand on many issues facing the city of Kalamazoo including one that no other candidate has spoken for: medicinal marijuana.

As the founder and director of the Kalamazoo Coalition for Pragmatic Cannabis Laws, Stocking believes that Kalamazoo is in need a more liberal marijuana policy and is pursuing a charter amendment in 2010.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act (enacted in November of 2008) allows severely ill patients to use the otherwise illegal drug. Patients, or their designated primary caregivers, can grow marijuana; however, there is not place in the state of Michigan to legally purchase medical marijuana.

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GWINN - More than 1,200 marijuana plants were seized during recent fly-overs conducted across the region, announced officials from the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET) Friday.

As a result of the investigation, arrest warrants are pending on six individuals suspected of manufacturing marijuana and other drug violations, said Jeff Racine, UPSET Commander.

Street value of the 1,200 pot plants is estimated at $1,000-$2,000 each, or $12,000-$24,000 total. Several weapons were also seized in the sting.

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A judge denied a defense attorney's request Thursday to dismiss marijuana charges lodged against his client, who claims he needs the illegal drug for medicinal purposes.

Livingston County District Judge L. Suzanne Geddis said defendant Michael Francis Collins could not retroactively apply the state's medical marijuana law, and she denied his request to dismiss a charge of possession of marijuana lodged against the 52-year-old man.

Collins' attorney, L. Bert Beurmann, immediately told Geddis that he will appeal her decision to the county Circuit Court. He declined to discuss the case after the hearing.

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It has been nearly a year since Michigan voters approved a loosely regulated system legalizing medical marijuana.

In a quiet and mostly out-of-the-way fashion, the program has taken root across the state. Patients and caregivers have formed local "compassion clubs" to educate themselves on the details of the law, share cultivation techniques and generally support one another.

Medical marijuana is still an underground product - cultivated in so-called grow rooms, under lock and key and exchanged in the small "compassion" networks.

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The Niles Housing Commission on Tuesday said it would take a second shot at evicting a resident growing marijuana in a public housing unit for medicinal purposes.

Last week, the commission dismissed its first cast against defendant Steve Allain after he raised "technical and procedural" defenses, according to commission attorney Michael Bell. Bell said Tuesday that the commission will refile their motion Wednesday.

The housing commission served a 14-day eviction notice to Allain in late June. While growing marijuana for medicinal purposes is legal in Michigan, the funding for the housing unit comes from the federal government, which does not allow it.

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Northern Express Articles Trigger Raid on Medical Marijuana Grower

About two weeks after appearing on the cover of Northern Express with his lush marijuana plants, Archie Kiel sat among the plants on his balcony chatting with a Kalkaska County Commissioner.

They noticed a helicopter flying low over the house -- so low that his plants started shaking. Kiel was about to call the police to complain when the police came to him. Police cars filled his driveway and about seven Traverse Narcotics Team officers walked up to his open door.

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RAPID CITY -- Police swooped in and confiscated several marijuana plants from a man after a local weekly newspaper wrote about him growing marijuana for medical use.

The Grand Traverse County-based Northern Express on July 27 ran a story about Kalkaska County resident Archie Kiel and others who grow and use marijuana.

Kiel, who lives on the outskirts of Rapid City, is authorized to grow marijuana for himself and two patients under Michigan's recently approved medical marijuana laws.

But officers with the state police-led, multi-jurisdictional Traverse Narcotics Team arrived at Kiel's house last week and seized about half of his nearly 70 marijuana plants. Authorities told him photos in the Northern Express revealed he had more than he was authorized to grow, Kiel said.

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The popular TV series "Weeds" is about a widowed suburban mother who deals pot to preserve her family's cushy California dream. Not a few Californians would like to see the theme writ large for their state. California has legalized medical marijuana, its cannabis crop is valued at $17 billion a year, and people there smoke pot openly. But the state can't collect a penny of revenues from the enormous enterprise.

As California faced budget Armageddon, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for "a debate" on the potential of tapping marijuana as a source of tax revenues. That's all he can do, because federal law still criminalizes marijuana use.

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Detroit -- Jeff Brink bitterly recalls taking massive amounts of painkillers for 10 years to deal with back pain stemming from a work injury.

The 45-year-old St. Joseph resident said the morphine pump attached to his body and high doses of other painkillers three times daily left him feeling generally incoherent most of the time.

Then, in March, he stopped taking the painkillers and started using marijuana. While still in pain, he is able to manage it without feeling as if he is not in control of his body, he said Saturday while attending the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association 2009 Expo in southwest Detroit.

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He may even move from Kalamazoo to Detroit, where he thinks the growth will take off.

"This is a multimillion dollar industry that is just opening up," said Francisco, a retired school teacher who insists medical marijuana isn't the same pot that some smoked in high school or college. Years of careful cultivation have led to a fluffy, fragrant variety, he says while opening a medicine bottle.

Medical marijuana is already a flourishing industry that is only going to get bigger in Michigan, Francisco and other advocates say. Since November, when voters made Michigan the 13th state to legalize it, opportunists have been organizing, networking and creating businesses to grow the crop, deliver it to the patients and everything in between.

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The conclusion of a two-part series about the impact of the medical marijuana law.

Last week, Northern Express profiled two pot growers who have a "passion" for marijuana. They love to grow it, they love to smoke it. They believe it can make people feel better and even cure them.

One of the growers, Archie, made a decision to come out publicly as a legal "caregiver" who supplies marijuana for patients. Under the law, he is allowed to grow the plants and be compensated for the cost of growing (lights, energy and the plants themselves).

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