THE PEOPLE YOU MEET AT THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE DISPENSARY

People's Choice Alternative Medicine sort of blends in with the rest
of South Main Street. Literally a 30-second stumble from Michigan
Stadium, off of West Keech at 1054 South Main, the space is better
identified to drivers and passersby for the white "Chiropractor 1054
Parking" sign outside than for what happens inside.

That's exactly what co-owner Harry Cayce wants, which is why, despite
the fact that People's Choice serves dozens upon dozens of customers
a day, you won't smell even a whiff of marijuana coming from the
building, won't see a bong loaded on the front porch on your way to
Michigan football games this fall or a smoke-themed "alternative
tailgate" in its drive way.

Alternative medicine, in this case, is medical marijuana and its derivatives.

For the last 14 months People's Choice has been serving Ann Arbor's
medical marijuana patients. Membership in People's Choice has
eclipsed 2,500 patients. Cayce said that businesses like People's
Choice operate in a grey area of the medical marijuana law - the law
Michigan's voters passed in 2008 never explaineed how
legally-recognized patients were to find pot - and operate under the
assumption they can serve any duly registered medical marijuana patient.

At the door, customers present their medical marijuana cards and
state ID. And, as has become standard practice in Ann Arbor, People's
Choice also allows patients whose checks have been cashed by the
state's medical marijuana program 21 days prior. The state has a
6-month backlog on issuing medical marijuana cards.

Chelsea Henry: The "budtender"

God Bud. 734. Scherezade. Purple Kush. Sugar Bush.

With a supply that changes daily, it can be tough for a patient to
keep up with what's good. But Chelsea Henry, the self-described
"budtender" of People's Choice, customers often find that a good
match is a short conversation away.

In a 90-minute period Henry served 6 customers, including one
caregiver who was resupplying for her and her husband's patients.
Henry makes it her business to know what ails each customer and what
each customer responds to. If a customer buys a bag, tries it, comes
back and says "meh," she'll take back the remainder back for either a
cash refund or an exchange.

Henry started nine months ago. She's not smoking right now, for her
own reasons, but continues to serve a broad customer base: the ex-cop
and war veteran, the 22 year-old former grappler who blew out his
knee before he could get a college scholarship, the pregnant
caregiver who can't smoke herself but has patients to serve, the
philosophy professor who believes the federal prohibition on
marijuana is a ploy to prop up the cancer-care industry.

Henry listens to all of them carefully. When it's a regular stopping
in, she becomes the pot equivalent of the bartender who knows your
favorite and has it ready before your back hits the chair.

Roger: The ex-cop

The ex-cop wasn't having much luck tracking down the pot.

Roger was among the 58 percent of voting-age Michiganders who voted
yes on medical marijuana in November 2008.

But he was still resorting to calling up his daughter's boyfriend and
sheepishly steering the conversation toward marijuana when the beau
simply suggested that Roger, a Vietnam vet and former officer with
the Detroit and Inkster police forces, get legal and get his medical
marijuana card.

Roger took the advice.

Roger asked that the Ann Arbor Journal not print his last name
because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. That
prohibition means that the decisions of Ann Arbor's voters in 2004
and Michigan's voters in 2008 to allow for medical marijuana would
provide no recourse if a U.S. president, now or in the future,
directed the Justice Department to ramp up the war on pot.

Roger, who suffered a gunshot wound as a police officer and suffers
from chronic pain, said he prefers marijuana to the Vicodin and
Oxycontin doctors have prescribed him in the past; it's more fun and
offers less risk of addiction. He prefers smoking a joint to drinking
alcohol and voted for the right to make that choice.

"It's pretty hard to abuse marijuana," Roger said.

Michigan's medical marijuana law has taken the trade off the streets
and into storefronts like People's Choice, and brought people like
Roger in from the cold. And from the doctor's office.

There is no official tally on how many awkward conversations the law
has prevented.

For massage therapist Mary Dettling, it's alternative healing

If there is one person who might have little to fear if the law kicks
in the doors at People's Choice, it is massage therapist Mary Dettling.

Dettling has been with People's Choice for about three months. She
came on at a time the dispensary was looking to expand its offerings
beyond pot and its derivatives, which at People's Choice include
pizza and ice cream.

"At first, they wanted to contract with the Relax Station," where
Dettling also works, she recalled. "But I stepped up and said I'd
like to do it."

Dettling's massages are free to members for the first five minutes,
then a dollar a minute afterwards. Dettling, of Manchester, offers
Swedish massage but isn't doing full-body yet and everyone keeps
their clothes on in her office.

Dettling also suffers from fibromyalgia and is a medical marijuana
patient. Budtender Henry normally steers customers toward their taste
in marijuana, but some people, like Dettling, are always on the
lookout for something new.

Co-owner Harry Cayce: A tough balancing act

To operate a marijuana dispensary in Michigan is to operate in a
constant grey area.

Actually, it might not be that grey. Attorney General Bill Schutte
has published an opinion that dispensaries are illegal in Michigan.
Taken together, those facts mean that the plug could be pulled on the
entire People's Choice operation tomorrow. Or the next day. Or a year
from now. Even so Cayce feels his duty to patients outweighs the risk.

Said Cayce, "Every day we open our doors is an act of civil disobedience."

But with upwards of 2,500 members to serve, patients suffering from
all manner of health conditions from chronic pain to Crohn's Disease
to cancer, Cayce, who works with growers and caregivers to keep his
shelves stocked, said he needs to operate as if People's Choice will
be around another 50 years.