COULD COURT RULING BE THE END OF MEDICINAL POT SHOPS IN
MICHIGAN?

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan may have to close their
doors after a potentially far-reaching court decision Wednesday
declared Compassionate Apothecary in Mt. Pleasant a public nuisance.

The unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel of the state Court of
Appeals was declared a statewide precedent by Attorney General Bill
Schuette, an opponent of the 2008 voter-passed law legalizing
marijuana for medical use.

"The court made it clear that these dispensaries, these pot shops,
have to be closed down," he said.

At issue was whether certified users could store pot and sell excess
to other patients.

Many of the nearly 100,000 Michiganders certified to use marijuana for
pain relief go to dispensaries. Patients also can grow their own pot
or get it from a caregiver. Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine
estimates 400 to 500 dispensaries are in business statewide.

Sticking point in medical pot debate: Does Michigan law allow
dispensaries? Michigan voters approved the use of medical marijuana in
2008, but police, prosecutors, lawyers and judges are still arguing
over what they approved.

Critics and supporters of the drug disagreed again Wednesday, after a
three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled unanimously
that the law allowed the medical use of marijuana in limited
circumstances, but not the sale of the drug.

The court ordered the closure of Compassionate Apothecary, a Mt.
Pleasant dispensary that was selling marijuana to people certified to
buy it for medical purposes, ruling that the facility operators have
no authority under the law to operate a "dispensary that actively
engages in and carries out patient-to-patient sales" of marijuana.

The ruling, which can be used as precedent to close similar facilities
across the state, was signed by appellate judges Joel Hoekstra,
Christopher Murray and Cynthia Diane Stephens.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette hailed the ruling as a victory
for local communities trying to keep out pot shops.

"Nobody voted to have pot shops across from schools and churches,"
Schuette said. "The court of appeals unanimously cleared the air that
these dispensaries, these pot shops -- really drug houses -- are not
legal. "

Medical marijuana defense attorneys disagreed, saying dispensaries
could stay open under certain conditions.

"We think the Court of Appeals kind of missed the point," said James
Rasor, a Royal Oak attorney who specializes in the murky medical
marijuana law. "This ruling does nothing but impermissibly infringe on
the rights of the voters. I think this is political."

The court purposefully declined to "reach the issue (of) whether the"
law "permits uncompensated patient-to-patient conveyances" of
marijuana, said Eric VanDussen, a Traverse City activist who often
films courtroom arguments on the topic. "I see lots of nonprofits
popping up around the state in the place of the many other business
models that everyone has been using."

He added that he doesn't think the court ruling precludes facilities
from charging for a pack of rolling papers and giving away a free gram
of medical marijuana.

Schuette said facilities that continue to operate "do so at their
peril," risking criminal charges, nuisance complaints and more legal
troubles.

Rick Thompson, editor-in-chief of Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine,
said the ruling effectively shuts down the state's 400 to 500
dispensaries, which allow sales in a safe place between people who
trust one another, rather than on the streets between strangers.

"Other than a place like this, people would have to go back into
neighborhoods," he said Wednesday at his office in Big Daddy's
Management Group in Oak Park. Big Daddy's serves about 3,500 certified
patients in five locations, including about 100 low-income patients
who pay nothing to Big Daddy's for their marijuana.

The issue is whether certified patients who don't want to grow their
own pot can buy it from someone else.

Growing marijuana inside is expensive, with electric bills alone
running up to $600 to $700 per month, Thompson said. "Patient access
will be affected," he said, but so will state government, which has
collected $8 million in patient-registration fees.

Tony Urquhart, 35, of Detroit said he spends $30-$40 every two weeks
to buy a quarter-ounce of marijuana to treat pain in his legs from a
1995 gunshot wound that left him paralyzed below the waist.

"It takes the pain to a manageable level," he said. "It's back to the
streets, I guess."

Oakland County has already closed four dispensaries, and Prosecutor
Jessica Cooper said the ruling validates the county's actions.

"It has always been my position that the act was passed for
compassion, not profit," Cooper said. "The opinion spent considerable
space discussing the Public Health Code and the fact that no one, not
even a pharmacist, is permitted to dispense a Schedule 1 drug (such as
marijuana)."

The law voters approved allows certified patients to use the drug
without facing prosecution, but it doesn't spell out a system for
delivery, said Robert Sedler, a law professor at Wayne State University.

"The law doesn't contemplate dispensaries, rather, it contemplates
that the person who uses it, grows it, or their caregiver grows it,"
Sedler said. "It was really directed at letting people grow their own
marijuana. Clearly, the law didn't allow for dispensaries."