ACLU CONSIDERS NEXT MOVE

Request to Return Medical Marijuana Rejected.

ROYAL OAK -- The American Civil Liberties Union is pondering its
response to the city's refusal to return medical marijuana to a
qualified patient or compensate him for it.

"It is disappointing," ACLU staff attorney Daniel Korobkin said
Wednesday. "We're considering how to move forward from here."

A Royal Oak police officer seized almost 7 grams of medical marijuana
(spelled marihuana in the state act and legal documents) from
Christopher Frizzo, a multiple sclerosis patient, during a routine
traffic stop on Jan. 11.

City Attorney David Gillam said the confiscation was proper in a
letter sent to the ACLU on Tuesday: "Based on the fact that Mr.
Frizzo's registry card did not designate a caregiver and that he
admitted purchasing the marihuana from an individual to whom he was
not connected through the Michigan Department of Community Health,
(the officer) confiscated the marihuana and sent Mr. Frizzo on his way."

The ACLU contends the state law passed in 2008 says medical marijuana
can't be seized or forfeited.

Gillam said Frizzo can file a claim with the city's insurer seeking
the return of his seized property.

Frizzo, a 46-year-old Royal Oak resident, said Wednesday he doesn't
think an insurance claim would remedy the situation.

"To compare medicine that relieves symptoms of an autoimmune disease
where the body is destroying itself to property like a car is absurd
and shameful," Frizzo said.