7 MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES CLOSE HERE

GAYLORD - All seven medical marijuana facilities in Otsego County -
six in Gaylord and one in Vanderbilt - were expecting to receive
cease-and-desist orders by Friday morning following a ruling which
declared such facilities illegal in Michigan.

Most had already closed their doors Thursday afternoon in anticipation
of receiving the order, with some having the marijuana moved off-site
by caregivers.

The ruling was made in the Michigan Court of Appeals Wednesday against
Compassionate Apothecary in Mount Pleasant, which operated by allowing
members to sell marijuana to each other with the owners taking a commission.

A judge had initially ruled the medical marijuana law allows for the
transfer of cannabis from patient to patient. In the court of appeals,
however, a three-judge panel ruled that sales of marijuana between
legal cardholders is not allowed by law and ordered Compassionate
Apothecary shut down as a public nuisance.

According to the Detroit Free Press, two facilities in Ann Arbor were
raided Thursday. Police were "carrying out big boxes of stuff,"
according to an eyewitness to one of the raids.

Otsego County Prosecutor Kyle Legel's office was preparing to have
letters hand delivered to each of the local facilities.

"We are advising that they should close," Legel said Thursday. "If
they don't close they are subjecting themselves to a complaint of
public nuisance and potential criminal charges for any sales."

The penalty for delivery of marijuana is a four-year felony, he
said.

Legel also shared his personal feelings about the issue and said the
relationship between local authorities and the various facilities has
been a good one. He described an "open dialogue" has been ongoing
between city and county officials and owners of the facilities.

"In our community we haven't had any problems, and they haven't caused
any additional crime," Legel said. "I think it's a shame people who
are trying to get their medicine are going to have difficulty getting
it."

Gaylord City Police Chief Joe FitzGerald differs.

"My feeling is it's a good ruling," he said Friday. "The law is poorly
written and this will force the legislators to take a look at the law
more closely."

Karen Sides, owner of Natural Remedies on South Otsego Avenue in
Gaylord, was keeping her building open only for caregivers who were
removing their marijuana from the premises and for members who wanted
to talk about what will happen next.

"I'm really upset by it," she said. "I knew this day would come that
we'd have to conform to the ruling, but I didn't think they'd choose
this route."

She said her members are also upset, even crying, over the
closure.

"They don't know how to grow (marijuana for themselves) and, frankly,
they don't want to," she said. "This is going to open the door to the
black market."

Sides was passing out handwritten flyers with the names and phone
numbers for Rep. Greg MacMaster, Gov. Rick Snyder and Sen. John
Moolenaar and scrawled with the message, "Call and support your local
dispensary and let your voice be heard!"

In a press release from his office Wednesday, Attorney General Bill
Schuette called the ruling "a huge victory for public safety and
Michigan communities struggling with an invasion of pot shops near
their schools, homes and churches."

Schuette was sending a letter to Michigan's 83 county prosecutors to
explain the ruling empowers them to close dispensaries and provide
instructions on how to file similar nuisance actions against
facilities in their communities.

The ruling came two weeks before a rally is expected to take place in
Lansing Sept. 7. At least 13 busloads of medical marijuana patients,
caregivers and supporters, including one bus from Choice Collective in
Gaylord, will be attending the rally to protest changes to the law
(see related story).