'SAFE HARBOR'

Lansing Is Working to Regulate Medical Marijuana Businesses Amid
Dispensary Crackdowns in Southeast Michigan

After nine people were arrested in Metro Detroit for operating a
medical marijuana dispensary, it's hard not to think about the fate
of the 16 similar businesses within the city of Lansing.

On Aug. 25, the Oakland County drug enforcement team raided Clinical
Relief in Ferndale. Nine people were arrested and await a potential
trial on felony drug manufacturing charges. An undercover officer
used a fake medical marijuana card to make purchases at Clinical
Relief. Two dispensaries in Waterford Township and several private
residences -- also in Oakland County -- were also raided that day,
leading to six more arrests.

Ironically, on the same day, Clinical Relief opened a second location
at 2617 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing. But recently it changed its
name, to Relief Choices of Lansing.

Jake, who owns and operates Relief Choices of Lansing, said he
changed the name partly because of the raids. Jake, who would not
give his last name, volunteered at the Ferndale dispensary for about
two months. He is 35, commutes from Oakland County and knows all of
the "Ferndale Nine," as they're being called.

Jake straddles the line between nervousness and comfort when it comes
to operating a medical marijuana business in Ingham County.

Dispensaries -- compassion clubs, as they are euphemistically called
- -- are not even mentioned in the law. Some take that to mean they are
illegal. Others reason that if they are operated by caregivers and
patients who are selling to other caregivers and patients, then they
are legal. The law says says patients cannot be arrested for engaging
in "medical use," which is defined as the "acquisition, possession,
cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession, delivery,
transfer, or transportation" of cannabis.

The law also says that caregivers can be reimbursed the costs of
growing the plant and that each caregiver can have up to five
patients. The maximum per patient is 12 plants and 2 1/2 ounces of
usable product.

If you are a patient and a caregiver for five other patients, you
could legally possess up to 72 plants and 15 ounces.

For anyone that has seen cannabis, that's a lot. It also creates an
"overage" of what's allowed. So if a patient happens to be running a
dispensary and reasons that patient-to-patient transfers are legal,
out pops a lucrative business opportunity.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard has said that the marijuana was
sold illegally at the three dispensaries and that the state law is
inadequate because it does not explain how sales fit into the equation.

Jake believes what happened in Ferndale was meant to be a test case
on whether dispensaries are part of what voters approved when 63
percent of them decided in 2008 to allow medical marijuana in Michigan.

"I can understand and appreciate looking at the judicial system for
guidance," Jake said. "But I don't agree with their methods (of raids)."

Knowing the Ferndale operation closely, Jake said its owners "never
stepped outside of their boundaries" as far as plant limits and
keeping usable product on-site. This makes him "definitely affected"
by the raids.

"It seems like everyone is holding their breath now. I'd be lying if
I said what happened in Oakland County didn't scare the pants off
me," Jake said, adding that he does not believe he is operating an
illegal business. "I wouldn't be in the business if I thought I was.
This is not some joke -- it's a legal business."

Meanwhile, Lansing City Attorney Brig Smith has a draft ordinance
sitting in the Public Safety Committee that he refers to as "volume
two" of regulating medical marijuana in Lansing.

The four-page draft defines "compassionate care centers" -- not
dispensaries -- as "an entity that operates and controls a medical
marihuana establishment." They are comprised of caregivers and
qualifying patients who pay membership dues. It must be incorporated
as a nonprofit, providing physician and/or attorney recommendations
or "other services indicating a bona fide service-oriented
relationship between the compassionate care center and its members."

Under the draft, centers could only be located in "F" or "F-1"
commercial districts as long as it's not within 1,000 feet of a
public or private school (from elementary to university) or within
100 feet of a youth center, public swimming pool or "video arcade
facility." Violators would be subject to a misdemeanor with fines up
to $500 or up to 90 days in jail.

While the ordinance does not grant immunity from state or federal
law, it does say, "Compliance with this ordinance shall be deemed a
safe harbor under which compassionate care centers and their members
can reasonably expect not to face criminal prosecution under the act."

The Lansing City Council passed an ordinance that took effect Sept.
27 that regulates home occupation caregivers who see patients at home.

Matthew Newburg, who started his own private law practice to
specialize in medical marijuana cases, says the decision to go after
these businesses that vaguely operate within the state statute falls
largely on county prosecutors and sheriffs -- even if the local
municipality takes steps to regulate them, as Lansing is doing.

In the case of Oakland County, the sheriff and the prosecutor are in
agreement that dispensaries are illegal, even though Ferndale city
officials approved Clinical Relief's existence. In Ingham County,
Newburg says Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth and Prosecutor Stuart
Dunnings are taking a hands-off approach, at least for now.

"Ingham County is in the information-seeking stage, gathering as much
information as possible," Newburg said. "It's not as aggressive as
Oakland County."

Most important, Newburg said an "open dialogue between police and the
medical marijuana community" on dispensaries needs to happen.

"I hope it's done in a civil way," he added.

"And that everyone comes to terms with the fact that it will be
difficult to amend (the statute)."

But amending the statute is exactly what most law enforcement wants
to see, including Wriggelsworth.

"The law needs to be rewritten so everyone understands it," he said.
"I don't think the group that drafted this had all their lights
turned on. Maybe that was by design."

Wriggelsworth added that the "paranoia on the part of everybody" that
police are lurking near these businesses in Ingham County, waiting to
bust them, is simply not true.

"The idea that there's cops hiding behind trees is wrong," he said.

Wriggelsworth added that he has not received any complaints about the
businesses in Lansing, and therefore has not acted upon them. He said
he only works with Dunnings when something "needs to be investigated
and charged," and he said that has only happened in the case of
Fredrick Wayne Dagit and an alleged bust of more than 200 pounds of
marijuana at the Green Leaf Smokers Club in Williamstown Township,
which Dagit owned.

Dunnings did not return calls for comment.

Eaton County Prosecutor Jeff Sauter said that the inconsistency in
law enforcement at the county and local level is "unfortunate."

"It's the byproduct of the way the medical marijuana law was
written," Sauter said.

"From a legal point of view, it's very complex and from a law
enforcement point of view it's complex and frustrating."

Sauter said he advises deputies to not make arrests if there is a
state-issued card at the scene to "avoid potential civil liability
for the officer or department." Robin Schneider, who operates Capitol
City Compassion Club at 2010 E. Michigan Ave., said she is "very
comfortable" being a patient and a caregiver in Ingham County.

"As soon as I leave Ingham County, I'm nervous," she said.

Schneider said she has been pulled over by Ingham County police while
transporting plants and usable product for her patients -- all within
the legal quantities -- and "it was no problem."

Schneider said the rules at Capitol City Compassion Club are simple:
"Get a caregiver or get lost."

On Nov. 3, Capital City Caregivers, 2208 E. Michigan Ave., organized
a bus trip to Ferndale to protest outside of a community center where
a probable cause hearing was happening for the Ferndale Nine. About
20 people rode the bus to show support to those who are part of the same cause.

Ryan Basore, founder of Capital City, said "the more the merrier"
when it comes to medical marijuana businesses in Lansing. While the
news out of Oakland County and the election of Bill Schuette as
attorney general -- who led the opposition to the 2008 ballot
initiative -- is grim for medical marijuana advocates, Basore said
Ingham County is still a relatively safe place.

For the protesters in Ferndale, the actions by Bouchard were a
violation of patients' rights.

Twenty-year-old Lansing Community College Student Sierra Porter
attended last week's rally and is in the process of getting her
paperwork processed with the state.

"I have a little bit of anxiety, seeing all the different (arrests)
in Michigan. What if it happens here?" she wonders.

Porter said despite the questions surrounding law enforcement and
medical marijuana dispensaries, it's nice to be part of a community
that's supporting each other and not hiding in their basements.

"The thought that I'd have people stand up for me and be supportive,
that kind of community is pretty cool," she said.