CLOUD OF UNCERTAINTY ENGULFS MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES IN JACKSON AREA

A medicinal marijuana dispensary - one of the first in Jackson County
- - opened without much fanfare in Vandercook Lake a few weeks ago.

D & N Strains quietly sold small portions of the drug,
marijuana-laced snacks and plant clones to nearly 50 patients during
its first week.

But by the end of the week, the store's owners agreed to stop selling
cannabis at the store at 300 McDevitt Ave., after neighbors
complained to the township and after a sheriff's sergeant told them
their operation was illegal. The owners still believe they were
acting within the law but feared they'd be raided if they didn't comply.

During the week it was open, Summit Township issued a six-month
moratorium on medicinal marijuana dispensaries while they review the
zoning implications.

How and where the drug can be dispensed is yet another gray area of
the Michigan Marijuana Act. Approved by voters in 2008, the law
allows people with a debilitating disease to consume cannabis for
medicinal purposes if they get verification from a doctor and
approval from the state.

The county Sheriff's Office and Prosecutor's Office interpret
language within the law to mean that one caregiver can grow up to 12
plants or 12.5 ounces of useable marijuana for five patients. Under
that reading, D & N couldn't lawfully dispense to the nearly 50
patients they had in the first week since they employed three
caregivers and one patient.

D & N co-owner David Schnider, however, believes he can legally
distribute medical marijuana to an unlimited number of patients
because the law covers dispensaries under "patient-to-patient"
distribution, which means a card-carrying patient can distribute
cannabis to other patients.

"We understand it is a new law and law enforcement and townships
don't like it," Schnider said. "But it's still the law regardless of
what they think."

It's a debate playing out in other communities across the state as
medical marijuana supporters push to open dispensaries and local law
enforcement and government scramble to respond.

Some communities, such as Ann Arbor, are trying to find a middle
ground for dispensaries to operate by reviewing zoning ordinances of
where they can open. Others, like Oakland County, are taking an
aggressive stance by raiding and shutting down these facilities.

The debate is likely to continue until the new law can be challenged in court.

"There is no attorney that can say yes or no," said Bruce Block, a
Grand Rapids attorney who handles many marijuana cases. "We can only
make educated guesses."

Breaking down the gray areas

While there is no consensus on the legality of dispensaries,
attorneys on both sides are busy building their arguments.

Detroit-based attorney Matthew Abel, who has more than 100 open cases
regarding marijuana law, argues that Michigan's law clearly protects
from prosecution patients who engage in the medical use of marijuana.
And "medical use" is defined by the law as "the acquisition,
possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession,
deliver, transfer, or transportation of marijuana" to alleviate "a
registered patient's debilitating medical condition."

The key word is transfer, Abel said. Since a patient is not a
caregiver, they are not limited to distributing to only five
patients, which makes dispensaries like D & N permissible, he said.

"I think the law is fairly clear," Abel said. "The problem is the
government didn't write this law and the government doesn't like (it)."

However, Mark Blumer, Jackson County chief assistant prosecuting
attorney, cites the section of the law that limits dispensing to only
caregivers, who could distribute marijuana to no more than five patients.

Until there's a court ruling or a vote by three-fourths of the
Legislature to change the law, Jackson County will consider any other
type of dispensing illegal, Blumer said.

That said, law enforcement officials in Jackson County have no
immediate plans to bust down the door of every dispensary that opens.

"We will tell them where we see the limits of the law to be," Jackson
County Sheriff Dan Heyns said.

If they continue to operate after the initial warning, Heyns said
officials will enforce the law.

Schnider has invested nearly $15,000 to get D & N up and running. For
others planning to open dispensaries, if a higher court ruling down
the road votes against their interpretation of the law, they could
face prosecution.

Schnider said he wants to continue to provide a safe avenue for
patients to get medicine, he said.

As a patient, Schnider smokes medical marijuana for gout, chronic
pancreatitis and blood clots. Schnider said he has had customers who
have polio, multiple sclerosis, cancer, chronic pain and seizures.

"These are the types of people the medicine is actually helping," he
said, "and these are the people I have to turn away now."

Not in my backyard

Since Schnider opened D & N before Summit's moratorium, he hopes
he'll be able to stay in the same location once the issue is
resolved. They have taken steps, he said, to be good neighbors.

He said smoking was not allowed on the property, the facilities were
clean and maintained and no marijuana paraphernalia was visible from
the street. There was just a red and white sign that read "D & N
Strains: A Medicinal Care Facility."

During the six-month moratorium - which halts the "growth, sale,
dispensation of medical marijuana from any clinic, dispensary or
other facility" - township leaders are reviewing zoning codes to
determine the best place for medical marijuana to be distributed.

"We're doing as much research as possible to find what would fit in
Summit," said Township Zoning Coordinator John Worden.

A subcommittee is studying the issue and will report by November.

D & N is located in commercially zoned area, though residential homes
are mixed in with businesses.

Worden said they are looking at all of the township's districts to
see where there would be the least amount of impact on surrounding
neighborhoods and schools. At this time he doesn't know where that might be.

JoAnn Corts lives across the street from D & N. A head shop called
Baby Girl 420 Boutique last occupied the storefront and sold smoking
paraphernalia. Corts said customers would be in and out of Baby Girl
at all hours, leaving their cars and loud stereos running.

She doesn't think a dispensary would attract a different crowd.

"It brings in people you can't trust," Corts said.

Corts also is concerned about children walking down the street to
Vandercook Lake High School and Middle School - she feels they don't
need to be exposed to a business that sells the drug to patients,
legal or illicit.

"We do not need any marijuana here," she said.