APPEAL VOWED IN CASE OF FERNDALE POT CLINIC

Pontiac -- Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said Thursday that
an Oakland circuit judge's dismissal of cases involving a Ferndale
medical marijuana dispensary would be appealed and would not affect
pending or future prosecutions.

On Wednesday, Judge Daniel O'Brien dismissed charges against Ryan
Richmond, the operator of the now-closed Clinical Relief, and seven
employees or patrons arrested or ticketed in 2010 on suspicion of
violating state marijuana laws.

Cooper said her office would "respectfully appeal Judge O'Brien's
ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals, which is our right."

Richmond's defense attorney, Neil Rockind, and other attorneys argued
in joint legal filings that the 2008 medical marijuana law was
ambiguous and that their clients believed they were operating within
the law.

"This is a very important ruling," Rockind said. "I'm proud to have
been a part of it ... this one was rather unique.

"My client relied on various interpretations of the law and also
assurances from the city of Ferndale that what they were doing was
OK."

O'Brien's ruling will not allow Clinical Relief to reopen, Rockind
said, because of a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling in August 2011
that effectively banned marijuana dispensaries.

Cooper disputed the defense's claims that the law was
murky.

"The argument is nonsense," she said. "The only people I hear arguing
that the law is unclear are the people who are clearly operating
outside of it and defense attorneys who are making beaucoup bucks
defending them."

Cooper said people with certain health problems who follow a doctor's
advice, obtain a medical marijuana card from the state and abide by
all conditions are not being prosecuted.

"But the dispensaries are another matter and have never been legal,"
she said. "Everybody knows that pharmacists can't dispense Schedule
One substances like marijuana. So why would anyone think they can do
what a licensed pharmacist cannot legally do?"

Assistant prosecutor Beth Hand opposed the dismissal request. In an
earlier filing to O'Brien, she said the "ignorance of the law" defense
should not excuse the defendants' actions.

Michigan has more than 30,000 residents holding cards that certify
physicians have prescribed their use of marijuana for some ailment.
After the Court of Appeals ruling, several hundred dispensaries closed
and only license-holding caregivers can dispense marijuana to patients.

Caregivers are permitted to provide marijuana to no more than five
patients and cannot have more than 12 plants for a patient at any time.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Narcotics Enforcement Team conducted
undercover investigations at Clinical Relief, which sold more than a
dozen grades of marijuana costing up to $700 an ounce, and reportedly
had more than 1,000 customers.