COURT OPINION MAY IMPACT LOCAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

IONIA, Mich. - An opinion last week from the State of Michigan Court
of Appeals ruling an Isabella County medical marijuana dispensary
illegal is raising concern for two local dispensaries.

Great Lakes Holistic, located at 1276 N. State Road, and The Healing
Club, located at 6981 Blue Water Highway, are concerned they will not
be able to help medical marijuana, card-carrying members based on the
ruling.

"It's been devastating," said Kim Logan, of Great Lake Holistic.
"(Patients) have to go to the street, places that look shady and most
do not have caregivers."

Great Lake Holistic has two locations, one in Ionia and the other in
St. Louis, Mich. With the ruling, the St. Louis location had to stop
dispensing medical marijuana when it received a letter from the local
prosecutor saying cease and desist.

Ionia County Prosecutor Ron Schafer explained that the court of
appeals ruling prohibits the sale of medical marijuana from
patient-to-patient, and that dispensaries are prohibited under the
ruling.

"I do not believe any dispensary is operating legally from that
opinion, and we will be addressing those issues quickly as a result of
that opinion," said Schafer. "The only way to assist (a patient) is
you have to be their primary caregiver."

Schafer is currently not sending out cease and desist orders to the
two dispensaries in Ionia County, but is waiting for further
information regarding the opinion.

Doyle Melton, with the Healing Club, said that the business model of
his location and Great Lake Holistic is completely different from the
dispensary in Isabella County.

He explained that the Isabella County dispensary was using a "locker
system." Caregivers would use the store's location to store excess
medical marijuana, and it would then be sold to card-carrying members
and the dispensary would receive commission from the sale.

"This has raised a very big issue," said Melton. "They are taking
these places away that offer patients a safe choice. We are a
non-profit, donation based business. We are the model of what
(dispensaries) should be when the laws come together."

Schafer said he thinks that the way dispensaries work are different
than what the voters had in mind when the law was voted on in 2008.

"It's not what the voters voted for," said Schafer. "More than 100,000
people have a medical marijuana card, and the top two reasons are
chronic pain and nausea. That is not what the people voted for. This
appeal brings sanity to the issue."

Great Lakes Holistic partners explained that its St. Louis location is
information only now after receiving the cease and desist letter from
the prosecutor, and the owners are glad that Schafer is waiting for
more information to come before sending the Ionia location a notice.

"Our patients are already complaining that they are not receiving
quality product and they are paying too much (with the St. Louis
location no longer offering medical marijuana)," said Wendy Ingalls,
of Great Lakes Holistic. "Basically, it's not even medicine, it's not
tested. It's scary when they have to go to the street. They are
finding out it's not what it is suppose to be."

The main concern for the dispensaries in Ionia County that have been
following the law, are concerned that their patients will be forced to
either grow their own, which would be hard for some patients, or be
forced to use other, non safe methods.

State Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, toured through the Great Lakes
Holistic and two other medical marijuana dispensaries, and said he
thinks there has to be changes to the law and definitions.

"It should be like a pharmacy, a clinic where it is professional,"
said Callton. "If medical marijuana wants to be taken seriously as a
drug, it needs to do that. I don't think what is happening is what the
voters intended. I think they intended the compassion and care for
certain patients. What can they do and what can't they do. The
dispensary (Great Lakes Holistic) I talked to said they are seeking
guidance, and they want to comply."

Callton said that there are several main issues with the medical
marijuana law. He said that the issues include people with felonies
and should not be operating a dispensary; the law has to be cleaned up
with a model for dispensaries; not allow "marijuana bars," where
patients gather to take the medicine together; and driving while on
medical marijuana.

"If marijuana is going to be a (legal) drug, there has to be
qualification of how strong it is with prescription strength," said
Callton. "To move the science of it forward, there needs to be
research done to see what doses are helpful. They location north (of
Ionia) actually test for quality and consistency.

"The concept of dispensaries is not what the voters passed, although
the dispensary may be a better model of distribution if done
correctly. As of now, it is really not what the voters passed."