15 ARRESTED IN OAKLAND SHERIFF'S POT RAIDS

Prosecutor Says Clinics Sold Illegally

Fifteen people are in the Oakland County Jail, and more arrests may
be coming in the state's first major crackdown on medical marijuana
distributors.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Narcotics Enforcement team raided three
businesses and 12 homes Wednesday and confiscated marijuana, $30,000
in cash, guns, grow lights, patient records and two guard alligators,
authorities said Thursday.

Prosecutors contend the operators of Clinical Relief in Ferndale and
Everybody's Cafe and Herbal Remedies, both in Waterford, were
exceeding the number of people they could supply with medicinal
marijuana and providing the drug to people without proper documentation.

"You can't sell to anybody but five designated patients," Oakland
County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said Thursday at a news conference.
A two-month investigation found the establishments were selling to
dozens, she said.

"This is Michigan. This is not a Cheech and Chong movie," Oakland
County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.

The operators pledged to fight the charges.

"What we do is legal," said Ryan Richmond, co-owner of Clinical
Relief, who said his partner was in jail. "What they did with those
raids was illegal."

Legal experts said the raids could lead to a showdown in court
between prosecutors, who want to curtail medical-marijuana
operations, and those who want the new industry to thrive in the open.

Oakland County authorities said the raid resulted in the arrests of
15 operators, employees and customers, and followed investigations of
drug dealing and alleged abuses of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Under the law, people with licenses can possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of
pot. They must suffer from long-term pain, nausea or epilepsy or
illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma and AIDS. Patients can grow pot or
designate someone else to. The law, however, doesn't mention whether
patients or caregivers may buy it from dispensaries.

During the news conference, Bouchard displayed what he said is about
$750,000 worth of marijuana seized during the raids, including
plants, hundreds of jars of marijuana and piles of pot-stuffed
baggies and marijuana-laced brownies, cookies and lollipops.

Bouchard and Cooper contend the operators of the three establishments
went far outside the law's scope, selling pot to people lacking
medical documentation and in some cases, to undercover officers.

The sheriff said some of the people purchasing pot at the
dispensaries were there because of "sore shoulders and stomachaches,"
conditions not covered by the law.

The raids included 13 homes of operators and employees, where much of
the marijuana was found. The alligators were found in a home with a
large marijuana inventory and were there to guard it, Bouchard said.

Authorities declined to identify the jailed suspects. Cooper said
charges would likely include possession and drug dealing.

Everybody's Cafe in Waterford has sold food during the day, but at 4
p.m. daily, it became a so-called compassion club, requiring a $20
initial fee and $5 entrance fee. Undercover officers saw numerous
illegal drug deals, Bouchard said.

When the raid began at Clinical Relief, at 362 Hilton in Ferndale,
Barbara Agro said masked police with rifles burst in as the
69-year-old manager was signing in patients.

"They came in with guns drawn," she said. "They put us in handcuffs
and started tearing the place apart."

A certified patient who said she uses marijuana for arthritis pain,
Agro said police also raided her Lake Orion house Wednesday night and
seized 15 plants and $11,000 that she said she was saving to buy a
car. Police also raided a manager's house in Troy, where they pointed
guns at Agro's grandchildren, she said.

Agro and three other employees -- a manager and two people dispensing
pot -- were arrested and released without charges later. Agro said
the raid terrified four patients. Employees at the dispensary said
Thursday that they hope to reopen in a few weeks.

"We did nothing illegal," receptionist Angelina Veseli said.

The Ferndale City Council voted Monday to end the city's three-month
moratorium on medical-marijuana businesses and let some open.

Padlocking the sites "obviously is going to have a chilling effect on
medical-marijuana use here and across the state," Ferndale Mayor
Craig Covey said. "I don't see the reason for this high-profile bust
unless the sheriff wants to send the message that he just doesn't
want these medical-marijuana clinics in Oakland County."

In Shelby Township, two men were arrested Wednesday after a
state-approved marijuana supplier sold marijuana to a man who was not
one of his approved patients during a so-called compassion party of
marijuana users at Four Bears Park, Police Chief Robert Leman said.
The arrest was unrelated to Wednesday's raids.

More than 50 Michigan cities, townships and counties have passed
ordinances limiting or banning medical-marijuana dispensaries, Rick
Thompson, editor of Oak Park-based Michigan Medical Marijuana magazine, said.

[sidbar]

CAREGIVERS, PATIENTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT RAIDS

Don Carter considers himself a healer of sorts. The 23-year-old buys
and grows marijuana for certified patients suffering from pain and
other ailments. He's a registered caregiver legally allowed to serve
those patients.

But when Carter drove to Clinical Relief in Ferndale on Thursday, the
medical pot he had hoped to pick up was gone. The clinic was among
three pot dispensaries in Oakland County that were raided by armed
police Wednesday night on allegations that the operators broke
medical marijuana laws.

"Now I'm very uncomfortable doing this," the Farmington Hills
resident said of being a caregiver for patients he said are very ill.
"I don't know if I'm going to be arrested."

Ray Kauffman, 76, whose caregiver buys his medicine from Clinical
Relief, said he's afraid the raid is just the beginning of a long
campaign to abolish pot for legitimate patients.

"It scares me," he said.

The dozen or so dispensaries still open in metro Detroit are watching
the case carefully, as it's almost certain to lead to a court
decision that more clearly defines the ambiguous medical laws.

Mark Holmes, 38, co-owner of the Organic Farmacy Collective, a Warren
dispensary, said he's in shock.

"This was a straight business," he said of Clinical Relief. "They
were helping a lot of sick patients. To see them shut down makes you
wonder what's next."

More than 20 pot cardholders were turned away at Clinical Relief in
less than two hours Thursday afternoon.

Turning away patients wasn't easy for Angelica Veseli, a receptionist
at the dispensary.

"We have patients with cancer and people who come in wheelchairs,"
the 24-year-old said. "What are they supposed to do? Go on the street
and buy it illegally?"

Terry Payne, 35, of Sterling Heights, a medical-marijuana grower and
state-approved patient, said the raids scared him.

"My wife is so wishing me to get out of this," Payne said Thursday.