DISPENSARIES PUT ON NOTICE

The state appeals court Tuesday, Aug. 23, overturned a circuit court
ruling that a Mt. Pleasant medical marijuana operation was legal under
Michigan Medical Marihuana Act provisions.

Allegan County Prosecutor Fred Anderson said, "Law enforcement
agencies are aware of possibly four places waiting for the outcome of
this decision to decide whether or not they'd continue to be in business.

"I'm assuming they're on notice now that they could consult with legal
counsel to see if in fact they are doing what the law provides."

"If they don't clean up their act and comply with the law, law
enforcement agencies will proceed accordingly. Notice is given: Follow
the law."

Tammy Jacobi initially closed her medical marijuana dispensary in
Saugatuck Township but reopened it two days later on Aug. 26.

"My lawyer and I agree that what I do here is right and legal," she
said. "But we have federal, state and township laws saying different
things. Attorney General Bill Schuette and various courts say other
things.

"I welcome the state closing illegitimate operations, But others of us
provide care as state voters called for.

"Meanwhile, patients who need marijuana for pain are left
out.

"Who takes care of them?"

The decision

Appellate judges Joel Hoekstra, Christopher Murray and Cynthia Diane
Stephens ruled the state act does not allow patient-to-patient sales,
hence the Mt. Pleasant shop in the case could be closed as a public
nuisance.

It collected a $5 monthly membership fee from medical marijuana
caregivers and patients, allowing them to rent lockers and store small
amounts of the substance in them. It then allowed patient-to-patient
sales while collecting a 20-percent fee for facilitating the
transactions.

Schuette, who in 2008 served as spokesman for a group opposed to the
medical marijuana act, wasted no time urging county prosecutors to act
to close shops in their jurisdictions.

Jacobi said her business, Good Intentions Paving Co., operates
differently than the Mt. Pleasant shop.

"To make a ruling on one operational model that effectively closes all
dispensaries is shortsighted," she said.

Conflicting Rules

Marijuana is an illegal drug under the Federal Controlled Substances
Act. Despite that, the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, passed by
voters in a 2008 referendum, allows certified patient caregivers to
assist as many as five patients and themselves with as many as 12
plants each.

Anderson said law enforcement would consider contacting dispensaries
remaining open or seeking an injunction to close them down.

He would not name the known dispensaries citing they were part of a
pending investigation.

He said the law did not legalize marijuana.

""Marijuana can give people a better life if used as directed by a
medical doctor, looking at their patients' conditions," he said.
"That's what it's intended for.

Anderson said licensed caregivers are allowed to recover compensation
for the costs associated with assisting qualified patients.

"There is no appeals decision that says what 'costs' means," he
said.

Jacobi said, "I am licensed as a nurse to dispense medical marijuana,
can deliver it to them and receive compensation...

"The law isn't clear as to what a 'dispensary' is. We may have to
change our name to a 'clinic.'

"I will always believe in safe, legal access to medical marijuana.
Otherwise, you force patients back on the street to get it.

"We need the state to provide us with a way to get the medicine to
patients. That's what hasn't happened."