MEDICAL MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS ARE SMOKIN' MAD

FERNDALE -- "All we want to do is protect our patients," according to
the leader of a group protesting Nov. 3 outside Kulick Community
Center in Ferndale during the preliminary exam of nine defendants
arrested in August after a police raid at a medical marijuana
facility in Ferndale.

About 90 medical marijuana supporters arrived in three buses from
cities across the state for the protest, according to Chuck Ream,
co-founder for Safer Michigan Coalition and a member of Michigan
Association of Compassion Centers.

Holding signs supporting their cause, protesters walked for about 2
1/2 hours along the sidewalk behind the community center, at 1201
Livernois, in support of the defendants arrested in late August at
Clinical Relief, a medical marijuana facility in Ferndale. The trial
was moved to the community center because of limited space at 43rd
District Court, according to court and city officials.

A Ferndale Police patrol unit was on site, and there were no reports
of disturbances during the protest.

One of the protesters carried a sign that read, "Stop Killer
Bouchard," which Ream said is a message to Oakland County Sheriff
Michael Bouchard to stop "trying to kill (the state's) medical
marijuana law," approved by 63 percent of voters on the statewide
November 2008 ballot.

Ream said he has been smoking marijuana for 43 years and qualifies as
a medical marijuana patient, because he has "intestinal distress and
gastrointestinal problems."

"All I have is pain, I'm not terminal one bit," Ream said. "I can run
farther and swim farther than most 20-year-olds or cops. My body is
hard and strong, my mind is functioning as well."

Ream said he is president of a medical marijuana dispensary in Ann
Arbor and added that his long-term goal is to legalize marijuana in
Michigan for any use.

"I use cannabis, period. There is no right for the American
government to say (citizens) can't use a plant. That's ridiculous."

California voters rejected a Nov. 2 ballot proposal to legalize
marijuana for any use, with the initiative going down 54 percent to 46 percent.