MAN WITH 47 POT PLANTS: OFFICERS 'TOOK MY MEDICINE'

A Unadilla Township man said narcotics officers "took my medicine,"
but he admits that he had more marijuana plants -- 47 total -- than are
allowed under the state's medical marijuana law.

Richard William Nicely, 53, says he has a valid medical marijuana card
under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which says caregivers can
grow up to 12 plants per patient for a maximum of five patients, and
have a maximum of 2.5 ounces of marijuana on hand for each patient.
The marijuana must be stored in a locked facility.

"I was growing out in the backyard, in view of everyone," he said
Monday. "I didn't know what was legal and what wasn't. ... I take one
seed and plant it in my backyard and grow a beautiful plant, and it's
illegal? If God didn't want flowers to grow, we wouldn't see them."

Nicely is now wanted on a warrant for delivering or manufacturing 5-45
kilograms of marijuana, according to 53rd District Court records.

Prosecutor David Morse declined to discuss specific details about the
case, but he did say it doesn't make any difference if Nicely has a
valid medical marijuana card because he had more plants than allowed
by the medical marijuana law.

"Neither a patient nor a caregiver is authorized to have that much,"
Morse said.

Nicely's alleged marijuana-growing operation was discovered at around
9 p.m. Aug. 3, when officers were dispatched to Nicely's Roepke Road
home for a complaint of "loud music," Chief William Cook said in an
earlier interview.

Nicely said undercover narcotics officers with the Livingston and
Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team swarmed his home.

"They came like a SWAT team in my house," he said. "They had automatic
weapons, helmets. I thought, 'What the hell is going on? Was there a
terrorist?' They almost Tasered my puppy."

Upon arrival, officers found 47 suspected marijuana plants ranging
from 3 feet to more than 7 feet in height in Nicely's backyard garden,
Cook said.

Cook said a 7-foot plant can yield between $2,000 and $3,000 worth of
marijuana per year.

Nicely estimated his largest plant -- none of which were mature, he
said -- was 9 feet tall.

Nicely, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army, said he uses the marijuana
for medicinal purposes after doctors "kept feeding" him prescription
medications like Vicodin and OxyContin for treatment of maladies
related to the Gulf War.

"I was hooked," he said about the medications. "I'm in pain and I'm
taking all these narcotics. I was like a zombie floating around. I
threw the pain meds away and went to alternative medicine. That would
be what they took out of my backyard, and guess what? It works."

When asked if he violated the medical marijuana law, Nicely replied:
"I damn sure did."