NEW TO GAYLORD: MEDICAL MARIJUANA COOPERATIVE

GAYLORD - The owner of Natural Remedies Alternative Medicine, a
cannabis cooperative which opened in Gaylord last week, feels she is
serving as a conduit between caregivers and patients who use
marijuana for relief.

Identifying herself as "Karen," the owner said she was motivated by
other caregivers and patients to open the co-op in her hometown as a
local way for them to respectively distribute and acquire marijuana.
Before they opened, she said, patients who don't grow their own had
to go downstate to get their marijuana, but can now do so locally "in
a safe, secure, anonymous environment."

Karen described the co-op as a private club for members only, and
memberships can be obtained by legal marijuana patients and caregivers.

Members with excess marijuana beyond their immediate needs can rent
locker space and store their overage on site, and they can set their
own prices on what they have to offer.

Natural Remedies employees, all of whom are registered patients, have
key access to the lockers and will make the exchange with the patient
in a private room.

As of April 7, their second day being open, Natural Remedies had
rented nine lockers and was offering a menu of different strains of
marijuana with names like "Shark's Breath" and "Northern Lights."
Karen said average patients include blue-collar workers and seniors
and are coming from Gaylord as well as Afton, Cheboygan and
Wolverine. No marijuana is grown or consumed on site.

Natural Remedies charges an administration fee on sales to help pay
for the lease on the building, employees and utility costs. According
to Michigan law, caregivers may be compensated for their services to
assist patients with use of marijuana.

Karen said that she had toured other similar facilities in Lansing
and Traverse City to see how their operations work. She also met with
local city and county officials and law enforcement agencies to
explain her business plan and gauge how they felt.

"I wanted to see if they had open arms to this club," she said,
adding that she would not have opened had she not felt welcome.

Karen understands the law is still young and very little precedence
has been established as to how marijuana facilities are enforced. The
Village of Vanderbilt, which saw the first such facility in Otsego
County open there in February, is still considering how to address
zoning and regulations.

"We're taking that risk for something we, as well as the community,
believe in," she said.

Natural Remedies, located in Parkside Mini Mall on South Otsego
Avenue, invites members of the public and prospective patients to
visit the facility, learn more about the operation and be better
educated on the topic of medical marijuana. Their Web site is
www.naturalremedies420.com.

Another facility, Compassionate Caregivers, also opened on South
Otsego Avenue last week but was not available for comment for this story.

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POLICE USING 'HANDS OFF' APPROACH WITH DISPENSARIES

GAYLORD - For now, Sheriff Jim McBride said county officials are
taking a "hands off" and "wait and see" approach to the modest number
of medical marijuana dispensaries which have set up shop in Otsego County.

A month and a half after the county's first medical marijuana
dispensary opened in Vanderbilt, dispensaries number two and three
opened last week on South Otsego Avenue in Gaylord.

Last week, Gaylord's Natural Remedies Alternative Medicine and
Compassionate Caregivers joined the Vanderbilt Holistic Apothecary in
helping medical marijuana patients and caregivers meet the needs of
medical marijuana cardholders seeking relief from pain and other
chronic medical conditions.

Since voters across the state, including Otsego County,
overwhelmingly approved the use of medical marijuana in 2008 - by two
to one margins - the Village of Vanderbilt passed a 120-day
moratorium last month while it debates zoning language to regulate
the location of dispensaries.

At the county level, McBride said prosecutor Kyle Legel has
instructed local law enforcement to "keep a hands off approach and
not to hassle" the new business ventures.

"It was overwhelmingly approved by voters and as long as they aren't
doing anything illegal, I've told my guys not to bother them or force
the issue," said McBride.

Last fall, the county public safety committee took up the medical
marijuana issue and at the time members came to the decision to "take
a wait and see approach" and look at how other communities were
dealing with the issue.

Legel said he did not know if the committee would revisit the issue
now that three new dispensaries have opened in the county.

County Commissioner Doug Johnson, a member of the public safety
committee, told fellow commissioners at their Tuesday meeting there
were "a lot of cases pending across the state," regarding the medical
marijuana issue and the public safety committee would likely wait for
judges from the county's 46th Circuit Court division to take a
position on the issue and/or regulation of dispensaries in the county.

"The problem is the law is really poorly written and nobody is sure
where things stand with it," said Johnson, who indicated the Otsego
County Planning Commission considered the medical marijuana
dispensary issue last fall, "but didn't take a stand on it."

According to McBride, any zoning ordinances relating to the two
newest dispensaries would be the responsibility of the city of
Gaylord, if any zoning action were to be taken.