ATTORNEYS: MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY 'NOT A CRACK HOUSE'

Two attorneys who are defending people arrested in the Aug. 25 drug
raids say they believe their clients will be acquitted and that
Oakland County is wasting taxpayer money trying the cases.

Jeffrey Perlman and Michael Komorn, both of Southfield, have teamed
to defend several of the people who were arrested during a raid at
Everybody's Cafe in Waterford.

The raid conducted by the Oakland County's Narcotics Enforcement Team
at various growing operations and marijuana dispensaries across the
county resulted in the arrest of nearly 20 people.

A pre-exam will be held today in the Waterford Township auditorium.
The unusual location was requested because of the large number of
people who will be in court.

Perlman and Komorn rebutted several points made by Oakland County
Sheriff Michael Bouchard, Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Cooper and
County Executive L. Brooks Patterson during a recent interview at The
Oakland Press when the three spoke out against the current medical
marijuana law.

Perlman was especially upset that undercover officers used medical
marijuana cards they created in-house to gain entry into dispensaries.

"(The people operating the dispensaries) were trying to be legal,"
Perlman said.

Komorn said: "This (dispensary) was not a crack house. The people
were checking cards and directing people where to go. This is about
taking care of patients."

In November 2008, Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal that
included physician-approved use of marijuana by registered patients
with debilitating medical conditions and allowed registered
individuals to grow limited amounts of marijuana for qualified
patients. The proposal passed by 63 percent.

Komorn said that opponents are "not acknowledging that (medical
marijuana) is medicine. People are using it for a better quality of life.

"Most telling to me - I never realized are how many people in
Michigan are on narcotics."

Perlman felt the targeting of medical marijuana patients getting
behind the wheel after using the drug was wrong.

"People drive on Vicodin all the time. If a person is operating a
vehicle and they are impaired, they should be arrested but you don't
target medical marijuana patients because they are patients."

Asked if caregivers should register with police, Komorn emphatically
said no, saying experience has shown police treat medical marijuana
patients "like criminals.

"This (busting marijuana users) has been the No. 1 business for law
enforcement for years," he said.

"Now they're having a difficult time keeping their hands off."

The charges faced by the people arrested include possession of
marijuana and conspiracy to deliver.

"It's more of an entrapment case," Komorn said.

Cooper had said in October her primary interest in amending the law
revolved around children and medical marijuana.

On the point of children being around patients smoking marijuana,
Perlman argued children aren't seeing parents smoking "unless they're
bad parents."

Perlman said there are dispensaries currently open in Lansing but
they aren't raided.

Opponents of the law have spoken often about the great need for
clarification of the law.

Komorn said, "This is an admission of different interpretations," he said.

"This is the most hypocritical of all (by opponents). You can't blame
the law people are relying on to defend themselves and then move
forward with the prosecution under the same law."

Komorn noted that the medical marijuana is becoming a way for people
in Michigan to make money. He agreed that clarification is needed on
how to zone dispensaries and related businesses.

Perlman said his client was home shaving when the drug raid team came
to his house.

He said if the client, Bill Teichman, had known what was coming, he
would have worked with officials and "figured the right way to go.
That's why he called the Waterford police and said (in advance of
starting the dispensary), 'This is what I'm opening.' "

Perlman said local medical marijuana patients are now getting their
medicine outside of Oakland County, and some are going to Genesee County.

"Oakland County believes in medical marijuana and there will be an
acquittal (of the drug raid clients) in front of a jury," Komorn said.

He called the court proceedings a "waste of money and resources to
find way to prosecute and conduct a crusade against patients