To Market, to Market

INSIDE LANSING'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA FARMERS MARKETS

If you've walked through a traditional farmers' market of fresh eggs,
fruits, veggies and baked goods, you can easily grasp the concept of
Lansing's medical marijuana farmers' markets.

Small plants, usable product, baked goods, smoking accessories - all
in great variety - highlight these new ventures that offer a
different take on the dispensary model.

Your Healthy Choice Clinic at 628 E. Michigan Ave. on Sunday
afternoons turns into a shoulder-to-shoulder shopping center for
qualified medical marijuana patients and caregivers. At any given
time between noon and 5 p.m., as many as 50 shoppers browse the
narrow office space downtown.

Fifteen vendors are eager to show off their products, which range
from baby cannabis plants (clones) to suckers laced with hash.

"This is the true meaning of compassion," said Kris Allbec, a vendor
from Adrian. "The patient clearinghouse is amazing."

At Your Healthy Choice, owner Shekina Pena said up to 15 vendors can
squeeze into the roughly 1,000-square-foot space. She provides the
card tables or counter space; vendors bring in their medicine. "Rent"
for a table is on a donation basis. You must be a member of the club
and a qualified patient or caregiver to enter the building. There is
no medicating on site.

Pena, whose club is up to 1,700 members, said vending space is booked
three to four weeks in advance.

"Some vendors have come from the U.P.," Pena said. "I was checking
ZIP codes and saying, 'Wow, is this even Michigan?'"

Allbec, who drives the 100 miles to Lansing each weekend, has been to
markets in Battle Creek, Jackson and Flint. She says the Your Healthy
Choice market is a good starting point for Lansing.

"You could easily do it three days a week," she said of setting up
displays. "I've been on the road for about a year."

These markets operate under the legal theory that patient-to-patient
and caregiver-to-caregiver transfers of cannabis are legal in the
same way as at dispensaries around town do every day. The idea with a
market, though, is that you bring growers from all walks of life
together who may not be involved with a dispensary. In turn, patients
have myriad choices of medicine.

The range of medibles at Your Healthy Choice was diverse. The second
table from the door had baggies of trail mix and granola clusters
made with cannabis cooking oil. Two more stands in, a vendor had a
crock pot of cannabis-infused hot chocolate and suckers. And then
there were the usual suspects of brownies, muffins and cookies.

Chuck Butler, also from Adrian, was standing next to Allbec's table
eating some granola clusters.

"It's great to have all these products here, all the variety," he said.

Butler was also sipping on a $5 fruit drink from one of the vendors.
"I didn't even know they made this stuff."

Mike Moore, who has been coming to Lansing dispensaries for the past
year, found out about the Your Healthy Choice farmers' market when he
was in buying clones about six months ago. Jan. 2 was his first shot
at vending. Moore and his wife are from Grand Rapids and are both
medical marijuana patients.

"Grand Rapids needs to allow something like this," he said.

"You've heard of the 'medical mile' in Grand Rapids," he added,
referring to the boom of the traditional medical industry downtown,
guided in no small part by "DeVos family money."

"They need to let it mature on its own in Grand Rapids. This is a
very good co-op here," Moore said. "It's truly helping people."

Top Shelf Budz, 1743 E. Michigan Ave. on Lansing's east side, hosts
its market on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Owner Steve Joseph offers space on a donation basis and has room for
eight vendors in the old Capital City Collectibles comic book store building.

There weren't any customers at about 1 p.m. Saturday, so George
Schneider took some time away from his table covered with assorted
jars of usable product and a Bob Marley "Freedom" flag.

Schneider, 45, started Field of Dreams Consultants for new patients
and caregivers. He loves the idea of caregivers and patients
networking out in the open at farmers' markets.

"It would be a disservice for the local government to take this away.
Markets create an even playing field for caregivers and patients," he
said. "It's no different than any other commerce going on."

Further, Schneider says, those who oppose regulating it seem to
contradict themselves because they don't see the economic benefits.

"Everybody I know is asking a million questions to accountants. We're
entrepreneurs, we've created work for people," Schneider said. "We're
not lazy - the moral minority seems to be the problem."

Matt Smrek, a 24-year-old vendor from Lansing, agrees. He has worked
his share of fast-food jobs, he said. This is his first time vending
at a farmers' market.

"Now this is a job for me," he smiles as he shows me a jar full of a
finely cured Jack Herer strain going for $15 a gram. "I'm trying to
make a living, not a killing."

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Club at 6046 S. Cedar St. wants to
distance itself from other dispensaries in town, but it too is giving
members-only farmers' markets a shot.

Todd Holforty, president of the membership-based compassion club,
started a market two weeks ago. It is on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Saturdays from noon to 8 p.m.

Three vendors had stands on Saturday, and Holforty said five or six
people show up on average.

"Not a lot of customers yet," Holforty said. "I just get a lot of
satisfaction out of helping people find the right meds."

The Marijuana Club is made up of four board members and emphasizes
alternatives to smoking, like tinctures, oils and creams, along with
raw cannabis. So far it has 30 members.

"We're looking to get more people involved. We have space for up to
12 vendors and expect to have a decent amount of occupancy," he said.

He said the networking between patients and caregivers is crucial. He
wants to set up a space where perfect strangers can meet up and share
knowledge, contacts and product when necessary. And, he adds,
everyone who is allowed should be growing to the best of their
ability because the need for medicine is out there.

"A patient who doesn't grow and doesn't have a caregiver is doing a
disservice to the community because the community needs it," Holforty said.