HOLLAND TOWNSHIP BUSINESS OFFERS 'PATIENT-TO-PATIENT' TRANSFER OF
MEDICAL MARIJUANA

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP - Every few weeks, lung cancer survivor Lynette
Houting ventures inside a nondescript business just off U.S. 31 to
buy medical marijuana.

To Houting, a 59-year-old West Olive woman who had one-third of a
lung removed this year and endured chemotherapy to battle lung
cancer, the marijuana has been a blessing to relieve nausea and pain.

She gets the marijuana from Patient Solutions 420, one of very few
known businesses in West Michigan plying in the medical marijuana trade.

The business operates with no signage, except for a small poster on
the front door, and the operators want to keep a low profile.

Businesses such as Patient Solutions 420 have been cropping up across
the state, but they come amid controversy over whether the 2008
medical marijuana law passed by voters sanctions their existence.

Patient Solutions 420 opened a few months ago and the operators say
the service is sorely needed.

The law allows for approved caregivers to grow up to 12 plants each
for medical marijuana patients, possess up to 2.5 ounces per patient
and speaks to "transfers" of marijuana between patients.

While many patients serve as their own caregivers, Patient Solutions
420 Community Outreach Director Monica Bakker said it's impractical for others.

"Many patients have been failed by the current system and have ended
up in poor caregiver situations or made costly, failed attempts at
growing their own medicine," she said in a recent news release.

Holland Township leaders earlier this month began looking at plans
for a medical marijuana ordinance that could exclude "storefront"
operations such as Patient Solutions 420 and prohibit businesses from
receiving compensation for medical marijuana services.

Patient Solutions 420 reportedly operates on a "patient-to-patient
transfer" basis, although company officials declined to speak in
detail about the operation.

A Mount Pleasant business, the Compassionate Apothecary, operates on
a patient-to-patient transfer basis by getting permission from
state-registered caregivers and patients to store their marijuana at
its site and transfer it to other patients for a 20 percent fee on
the sale price.

Thomas Lavigne, an attorney with Cannabis Council Plc who represents
Patient Solutions 420 and other businesses, said the business
receives just-in-time deliveries of marijuana medicine.

He contends such businesses are legal and an Isabella County judge
recently ruled the Mount Pleasant shop operated within the law.

Ottawa County sheriff's Lt. Mark Bennett said his department and the
West Michigan Enforcement Team, a regional state police drug agency,
are aware of Patient Solutions 420. He said Ottawa County prosecutors
believe patient "dispensaries" are illegal, but did not know if
Patient Solutions 420 fell into that category.

"They are not to be dispensing marijuana from that storefront," he said.

Bennett said another medical marijuana operation is at the corner of
68th Avenue and Lake Michigan Drive in the Allendale area and
functions as a "compassion club" where patients can see a doctor to
get qualified as registered patients and get other advice.

Houting said she was allowed to see marijuana stored in jars at
Patient Solutions 420 and choose the variety or strain she desired,
then paid for the product.

She said that since her July 4 operation to remove a 9 centimeter
tumor on her left lung, the marijuana has provided a less expensive
and effective alternative to the minimum $104 per-pill medication her
doctor prescribed for nausea relief. She took two pills every three
weeks and did not have insurance.

A friend advised her to try medical marijuana.

"I tried it and it worked," she said.

Houting believes much of the general public is unnecessarily fearful
of medical marijuana. She found Patient Solutions 420 to be well run
and secure, only serving those who meet all state registration requirements.

"This is not like backroom drug deals," she said.

Wes Bennett, 36, of Fennville, is also a believer in businesses like
Patient Solutions 420. A cancer surivor of eight years, he had
surgery to remove most of his colon and parts of his large and small
intestines.

He uses medical marijuana for chronic pain. He is looking at growing
his own marijuana, but in the meantime likes the convenience of
buying it at the Holland business.

"The quality of the chemistry is way above and beyond what you could
get in a back alley," he said.

Bennett believes an ordinance to prohibit storefront medical
marijuana operations would be a mistake. He doesn't want to have to
drive to Detroit or elsewhere to get medicine. "This business is not
trying to be shady. They are totally sticking to the state
guidelines," he said.

In a press release, Monica Bakker at Patient Solutions 420 calls the
business a medical marijuana information service that "connects
registered Michigan medical marihuana patients with safe, reliable
access to medicine."

She said the business has taken security precautions and relies on
legal counsel for advice on operations.