MEDICAL POT CLINICS BUSTED FOR ILLEGAL SALES

Oakland CO. Authorities Arrest 15 After Two Raids in Ferndale, Waterford

Pontiac -- Authorities raided two medical marijuana businesses and
arrested 15 people for allegedly making illegal sales, in a crackdown
announced Thursday by Oakland County officials.

The arrests followed an undercover investigation that found marijuana
being sold illegally, often without buyers showing state-issued
medical marijuana cards, officials said. The cards are distributed to
people whose doctors have prescribed marijuana for pain relief.

Raids Wednesday night targeted Clinical Relief, a Ferndale clinic,
and Everybody's Cafe, a Waterford Township restaurant that runs an
after-hours "compassion club" behind closed doors. Arrests and drug
seizures also occurred at Metro Detroit homes and a Macomb County
warehouse, officials said.

"This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie," Oakland County
Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Thursday at a news conference. Deputies
displayed seized items that included bagged and candied marijuana
worth $750,000, hash oil, other drugs and growing equipment.

The arrests were made for offenses ranging from possession to sales
and distribution of marijuana and include business operators,
employees, and customers, including some with state-issued medical
marijuana cards. All are jailed and expected to be charged today.

The arrests left some medical marijuana cardholders angry and confused.

"This is nothing but harassment," said Thomas Smith, 28, of Auburn
Hills, a member of the Waterford Area Compassion Club, which met at
Everybody's Cafe to use marijuana. "These are good people and haven't
done anything illegal."

Bouchard said the cafe sells memberships for $20 a year, and
state-certified patients and caregivers can participate. The club has
about 450 members.

Michigan Law Different

The raids were carried out as Michigan municipalities grapple with
enforcing the state's medical marijuana law, which voters passed in
November 2008. Earlier this week, Ferndale officials lifted a
moratorium on medical marijuana businesses and agreed to allow them
in certain zoning areas.

Smith, who has a doctor's prescription for marijuana because of two
deteriorated discs and chronic pain, showed up outside the closed
cafe Thursday afternoon to support its absent owners.

He said marijuana has helped him escape an addiction to legal
painkillers such as OxyContin.

"Those drugs kill people," Smith said. "It's the drug companies who
are the drug dealers. Yet they are treating people like this as
criminals. I don't get it."

Bouchard and county Prosecutor Jessica Cooper told reporters that
state law in Michigan differs from that in California or any of the
other 13 states that permit use of marijuana for medical purposes,
such as an appetite stimulants for patients, or to reduce pain from
glaucoma or HIV.

"Marijuana is illegal to possess, manufacture or sell in Michigan
except for persons exempt because they have a physician's approval to
use it and a card issued by the state," Cooper said. "Caregivers must
also obtain a state card, and even then can only take care of five
patients, for which they are allowed to grow and harvest 12 plants
for each, no more."

But while nearly 30,000 residents hold state exemptions or seek them,
Michigan law has no provision for dispensaries of marijuana.

Law enforcement officials are concerned that communities may become
awash in dispensaries where people could improperly obtain the drug.

"People are applying laws from other states here," said Cooper. "What
goes in California doesn't go here."

Owners Deny Allegations

Clinical Relief, which opened in June, sells 20 grades of marijuana
ranging up to $700 an ounce, and reportedly has more than 1,000 customers.

During the raid there Wednesday, three people were arrested,
including co-owner Matthew Curtis.

Ryan Richmond, co-owner of Clinical Relief, on Thursday denied the
allegations by police as he drove to visit Curtis at the Oakland County Jail.

"They said we were selling to people who were not patients. That
never happened at our store," Richmond said. "Everyone had
state-approved cards."

He described the raid, which happened just after 6 p.m. Wednesday:
"They had patients on the ground. There were cancer patients on the
ground, senior citizens on the ground and staff on the ground,"
Richmond said. "They raided all of our partners' homes while their
kids were home. They were taking their TVs like we were drug dealers."

Police took HIPAA-protected documents, all patient files and TVs from
the clinic, he said.

"I am in shock," he said. "Our clinic is empty now. I heard them say
they want a test case. That's what a detective said at the store."

Richmond said he operates a medical marijuana consultation business
where certified patients can select medical marijuana grown off-site
by certified caregivers.

Richmond's company also sells edibles: products that contain
cannabis, including sodas, suckers and baked goods.

Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey said Clinical Relief, the city's only
medical marijuana facility, was in full compliance with local rules.

"We've had zero problems -- no calls, no noise or traffic complaints.
No police. We were very surprised," Covey said of the raid.

Law Enforcement Struggles

While Ferndale has lifted its moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries, other Metro Detroit communities have been more
cautious. Pontiac has a moratorium on the clinic issue, as do Auburn
Hills, Bloomfield Township, Royal Oak and Southfield. Huntington
Woods, like Ferndale, has zoning and permit restrictions on where
clinics and caregivers can operate.

Still others, like Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, have banned
medical marijuana businesses outright, citing federal law against the
use and sale of marijuana.

Michael Komorn, a board member with the Michigan Medical Marijuana
Association, which has 16,000 patients and caregivers as members,
said law enforcement continues to struggle with implementation of the
state's Medical Marijuana Act.

"They have been resistant to accepting marijuana as medicine," said
Komorn, a Bloomfield Hills attorney.

"This is a very disturbing story. Patients were held at gunpoint and
dragged out. This law was designed to protect patients and caregivers
- -- not expend our resources arresting patients and caregivers."

Komorn said he has heard story after story of task forces raiding
homes, patients attempting to show state ID cards but instead being
treated like criminals.

"We are begging law enforcement to sit down and talk about the law,"
he said. "Don't take it out on the patients. Go back to the ballot if
you don't like the law. Don't take away our democratic process. This
is the law."