BEWARE OF THE SHARKS

Talking With Some of the Compassionate Folks Behind the Green Boom

Medical marijuana authorization clinics are cropping up all over the
place. Grow schools and hydroponic equipment stores are getting to be
part of the landscape. The state has received some 60,000
applications for medical marijuana cards and the number is growing
daily. Although getting the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act passed
took years, it seems that the world of medical marijuana is blowing
up in a rush.

Maurice Cheetham has been involved with medical marijuana longer than
most, and urges folks to be cautious when getting involved with it.
"There are a lot of sharks in the water," he says.

Cheetham, a medical marijuana patient and caregiver, is the founder
of the Midtown Detroit Compassion Club (MDCC). He has also served on
the board of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, and in that
capacity he traveled the state to assist compassion clubs in getting
started, complying with the law and providing services to local
communities. He says he's been "cultivating" the plant for 10 years.
He's also involved with patient care at the Green Trees Medical
Marihuana Certification Center.

The Midtown Detroit Compassion Club seems pretty low-key as far as
compassion clubs go. It doesn't have a storefront, doesn't sell grow
equipment, doesn't sell marijuana and doesn't charge a membership fee
- - although donations are accepted.

"We keep things limited, no advertising," he says." We're a small
grass roots organization - a resource and outlet for patients. I try
to point them in the right direction. We're careful with collecting
information. We want to build real solid relationships as opposed to
just signing people up into the club. We cater to the over-30 crowd.
We want real adults, real patients."

In an area where caution should be practiced, Cheetham seems more
cautious than most, but it's in the patients' interest.

"Learning how to cultivate was educating me," he says. "Learning the
cycles of a plant, it's truly about gardening and getting in touch
with nature. Calm down and learn about growing. Learn about human
nature. Take your time learning how to grow. Don't spend a lot of
money. Some of the people are being gouged. They spend $10,000 on a
grow room and don't even know how to grow. If you take the time and
patience to learn, you can be successful. But you can't rush it."

Cheetham works with cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's
disease patients as a counselor or caregiver. He has to figure out
which strains of marijuana work best for their needs. He says that
indica strains are more physical and relaxing, while sativa strains
have a more cerebral and energetic effect. But even within those
categories there are variations; there are some 600 strains of
marijuana, each with different effects and potencies. Patients report
back about how they were affected by certain buds and whether they
liked them or not. He recommends leaving indicas alone during the day
when you have to function.

Cheetham is one of the most visible African-American activists on the
local medical marijuana scene. While there are many blacks involved
as patients and caregivers, medical marijuana is not a racial issue
and none of the black organizations that tend to address social and
political issues have spoken out on it. Like AIDS, it's an uneasy
issue to raise in the community. He says that he has called the NAACP
and the Urban League but didn't get a response.

"The African-American community is very uneducated about medical
marijuana," Cheetham says. "They're the last to grasp on. ... Detroit
is at the center of the medical marijuana community. Real estate is
being bought up to build grow rooms. We don't want Detroiters to get
locked out of this. ... There are no ministers or churches involved
that I can account for. I would love to build up a dialogue, just a
discussion about the pure facts of the Michigan medical marijuana
law, about issues of acquisition, cultivation, transfer and transport
of medical marijuana. You can't sell marijuana just to anyone. There
are facts to the law that need to be abided by. We do support
compliance of the law. This is not the wink-wink, nod-nod situation."

One of the issues among patients is how to medicate themselves.
Another Detroit activist, Chocolate Cherri, works patient-to-patient
in developing recipes for edible medicating, and tinctures and oils
for topical application. Chocolate Cherri is a pseudonym; she tries
to keep a low public profile.

"I got into cooking it because I'm not a smoker," says Cherri. "A
friend who has since passed away wanted to use but could'nt smoke. I
said, 'Let me see if I can hook us up something; let me try this.' It
was definitely trial and error. I've thrown away quite a bit of stuff."

I met Cherri at Metro Times' Higher Groundevent at Eastern market a
few weeks ago. She was peddling her booklet Chocolate's Infusions,
Medical Edibles and More, with recipes for marijuana butter and oil
for use in recipes such as macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes and
pasta sauce. There are also recipes for drinks and liniments. Most
medical marijuana publications such as the Midwest Cultivator and the
Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine feature recipes, but Cherri has
quite a few in her 46-page booklet.

"Actually people were laughing at me. 'Yeah, how many brownies can
you eat?' I don't do the brownies," says Cherri. "Then it was like,
'Can you teach us?' I was offering a girls' night out cooking class.
Then I cancelled it. I was having some health issues. ... It was
easier to do the book than it was to do the classes."

Cherri won't discuss her illness but says she has had problems since
she was a teen. She was among the earliest Detroiters to organize a
medical marijuana group, the Spirit of Detroit Compassion Club, and
she doesn't have much tolerance for the party atmosphere of some smoke rooms.

"The only reason I can see for having a smoking lounge is for
socialization," she says. "I am too old and too sick to give a damn.
. I'm looking for relief when I medicate. I'm more mobile. I can tell
the difference. A couple of months ago, I told myself you're no
longer having these problems. I went two weeks without taking
anything, and all those issues that I had that I'd forgotten about
came back. Now that I have developed topical, every day you see me I
am covered with lotions or oils, or ointments or something. Parts of
me that have more pressing issues tend to get more coverage more
times during the day. If I'm smoking, I'm in a really bad state. If
you have asthma you use an inhaler for emergencies, that's what
smoking is with me. I prefer my topicals and edibles."

If Detroit is indeed a center for medical marijuana, people like
Cheetham and Cherri give it a more meaningful, and tasty, filling.