COMPASSION CLUB GROWS; NOT HINDERED BY ORDINANCE

GENESEE TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Compassion Club, a place where people
smoke, exchange and learn about medical marijuana has grown from 140
members to more than 2,600 in one year.

Co-founder and President Jeremy Rupinski is looking for a new site --
a 10,000-square-foot facility to accommodate the growing group. He
hopes to move from the space at Center and Richfield roads by
February when the current lease expires. Sometimes, as many as 85
people wait at the door, he said.

Compassion Club will stay in the township where a medical marijuana
ordinance passed Oct. 19, which, apparently, does not impact the group.

"To our knowledge, the Compassion Club doesn't grow marijuana,
doesn't sell marijuana and does not have anyone smoke marijuana on
the premises," said James Dillard, an attorney who works with the
township. "To our knowledge, it's an advisory clinic."

The ordinance regulates the location and operations of a dispensary,
defined as a facility where someone grows, cultivates, stores,
dispenses or offers marijuana for sale. A 2008 Michigan law allows
people who register with the state to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Under the township ordinance, dispensaries are:

. not permitted within 1,500 feet of another dispensary, home,
school, nursery, licensed child care center, church or park.

. able to grow marijuana in a fully-enclosed structure that is
secured with locks.

. not permitted to allow people ages 18 or younger onto the site
unless they have a valid medical marijuana registry card.

With a few other minor provisions, the ordinance passed unanimously,
Genesee Township Treasurer Thomas Mannor said.

"We're not having problems with it at that location there," he said.
"That's the only one in our township presently."

Ramona Rupinksi, one of five board members who formed the group,
agreed the club has a low-key image, and there have been no thefts or
altercations there. The dispensary is far enough away from Richfield
Public School Academy, which is across the street.

The Club does not store or grow marijuana but has an horticultural
lab to show people how to grow it at home. And it does offer
educational services such as how to get a medical marijuana card.

But members do exchange small quantities of marijuana, she said.
Everything is weighed according to state law. In addition,
second-hand smoke could be seen in the public lobby.

Rupinski described the Club as a social space or safe transfer
station. The back of the store is private and the lobby is filled
with T-shirts and flags that promote marijuana.

Staff members make sure patients and caregivers have documentation.

"They can call us a dispensary if they want to," she said. "We are
truly a nonprofit club."

Regardless of whether it's a dispensary or not, the members do not
expect to be pushed out of the township.

"Overall (the ordinance) is pretty solid," Jeremy Rupinski said.
"They did a good job. It allows the opportunity for people to meet
together out of their homes."

In addition, it prevents people from getting marijuana in unsafe,
dangerous places, Ramona Rupinski said.

Run strictly by donations, the Compassion Club has eight volunteers
and 12 interns and gives a portion of its earnings to charity. The
Club is not recognized federally as a nonprofit group, because
medical marijuana is illegal on a federal level. So the members can
not obtain a bank-backed loan.

The group plans to raise $200,000 for a private land contract to move
into a new space.