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Cloud of uncertainty engulfs medical marijuana dispensaries in Jackson area
Published: Saturday, October 02, 2010, 10:00 PM Updated: Monday, October 04, 2010, 8:20 AM
Nick Dentamaro | Jackson Citizen PatriotDavid Schneider kneels as he tends to his marijuana plants. "I'm just trying to provide the best medicine to care for my patients," Schneider said about how he grows his marijuana. 11Share
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A medicinal marijuana dispensary — one of the first in Jackson County — opened without much fanfare in Vandercook Lake a few weeks ago.
D & N Strains quietly sold small portions of the drug, marijuana-laced snacks and plant clones to nearly 50 patients during its first week.
But by the end of the week, the store’s owners agreed to stop selling cannabis at the store at 300 McDevitt Ave., after neighbors complained to the township and after a sheriff’s sergeant told them their operation was illegal. The owners still believe they were acting within the law but feared they’d be raided if they didn’t comply.
During the week it was open, Summit Township issued a six-month moratorium on medicinal marijuana dispensaries while they review the zoning implications.
How and where the drug can be dispensed is yet another gray area of the Michigan Marijuana Act. Approved by voters in 2008, the law allows people with a debilitating disease to consume cannabis for medicinal purposes if they get verification from a doctor and approval from the state.
The county Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office interpret language within the law to mean that one caregiver can grow up to 12 plants or 12.5 ounces of useable marijuana for five patients. Under that reading, D & N couldn’t lawfully dispense to the nearly 50 patients they had in the first week since they employed three caregivers and one patient.
D & N co-owner David Schnider, however, believes he can legally distribute medical marijuana to an unlimited number of patients because the law covers dispensaries under “patient-to-patient” distribution, which means a card-carrying patient can distribute cannabis to other patients.
Fritz Klug | Jackson Citizen PatriotD & N Strains, a medical marijuana dispensary, opened last week at 306 E. McDivitt. It closed the same week. Summit Township passed a moratorium on dispensaries in the township for six months to decide how the facilities should be zoned.
“We understand it is a new law and law enforcement and townships don’t like it,” Schnider said. “But it’s still the law regardless of what they think.”
It’s a debate playing out in other communities across the state as medical marijuana supporters push to open dispensaries and local law enforcement and government scramble to respond.
Some communities, such as Ann Arbor, are trying to find a middle ground for dispensaries to operate by reviewing zoning ordinances of where they can open. Others, like Oakland County, are taking an aggressive stance by raiding and shutting down these facilities.
The debate is likely to continue until the new law can be challenged in court.
“There is no attorney that can say yes or no,” said Bruce Block, a Grand Rapids attorney who handles many marijuana cases. “We can only make educated guesses.”
Other communities
The medical marijuana issue has been relatively quiet in most other Jackson area communities. A few townships are looking at the issue. However, the city of Jackson is the only one working on an ordinance that would limit where a dispensary — operating legally or not — could open. Jackson City Manager Warren Renando said he wants to handle dispensaries the same way as exotic dance clubs and pornographic stores: zone them for industrial areas. The city hasn’t experienced any issues yet, but Renando said he wants to be prepared. The ordinance should be introduced to the city council within the next 30 to 60 days.
Breaking down the gray areas
While there is no consensus on the legality of dispensaries, attorneys on both sides are busy building their arguments.
Detroit-based attorney Matthew Abel, who has more than 100 open cases regarding marijuana law, argues that Michigan’s law clearly protects from prosecution patients who engage in the medical use of marijuana. And “medical use” is defined by the law as “the acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession, deliver, transfer, or transportation of marijuana” to alleviate “a registered patient’s debilitating medical condition.”
The key word is transfer, Abel said. Since a patient is not a caregiver, they are not limited to distributing to only five patients, which makes dispensaries like D & N permissible, he said.
“I think the law is fairly clear,” Abel said. “The problem is the government didn’t write this law and the government doesn’t like (it).”
However, Mark Blumer, Jackson County chief assistant prosecuting attorney, cites the section of the law that limits dispensing to only caregivers, who could distribute marijuana to no more than five patients.
Until there’s a court ruling or a vote by three-fourths of the Legislature to change the law, Jackson County will consider any other type of dispensing illegal, Blumer said.
That said, law enforcement officials in Jackson County have no immediate plans to bust down the door of every dispensary that opens.
“We will tell them where we see the limits of the law to be,” Jackson County Sheriff Dan Heyns said.
If they continue to operate after the initial warning, Heyns said officials will enforce the law.
Schnider has invested nearly $15,000 to get D & N up and running. For others planning to open dispensaries, if a higher court ruling down the road votes against their interpretation of the law, they could face prosecution.
Schnider said he wants to continue to provide a safe avenue for patients to get medicine, he said.
As a patient, Schnider smokes medical marijuana for gout, chronic pancreatitis and blood clots. Schnider said he has had customers who have polio, multiple sclerosis, cancer, chronic pain and seizures.
“These are the types of people the medicine is actually helping,” he said, “and these are the people I have to turn away now.”
Published: Saturday, October 02, 2010, 10:00 PM Updated: Monday, October 04, 2010, 8:20 AM
102 Comments
A medicinal marijuana dispensary — one of the first in Jackson County — opened without much fanfare in Vandercook Lake a few weeks ago.
D & N Strains quietly sold small portions of the drug, marijuana-laced snacks and plant clones to nearly 50 patients during its first week.
But by the end of the week, the store’s owners agreed to stop selling cannabis at the store at 300 McDevitt Ave., after neighbors complained to the township and after a sheriff’s sergeant told them their operation was illegal. The owners still believe they were acting within the law but feared they’d be raided if they didn’t comply.
During the week it was open, Summit Township issued a six-month moratorium on medicinal marijuana dispensaries while they review the zoning implications.
How and where the drug can be dispensed is yet another gray area of the Michigan Marijuana Act. Approved by voters in 2008, the law allows people with a debilitating disease to consume cannabis for medicinal purposes if they get verification from a doctor and approval from the state.
The county Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office interpret language within the law to mean that one caregiver can grow up to 12 plants or 12.5 ounces of useable marijuana for five patients. Under that reading, D & N couldn’t lawfully dispense to the nearly 50 patients they had in the first week since they employed three caregivers and one patient.
D & N co-owner David Schnider, however, believes he can legally distribute medical marijuana to an unlimited number of patients because the law covers dispensaries under “patient-to-patient” distribution, which means a card-carrying patient can distribute cannabis to other patients.
“We understand it is a new law and law enforcement and townships don’t like it,” Schnider said. “But it’s still the law regardless of what they think.”
It’s a debate playing out in other communities across the state as medical marijuana supporters push to open dispensaries and local law enforcement and government scramble to respond.
Some communities, such as Ann Arbor, are trying to find a middle ground for dispensaries to operate by reviewing zoning ordinances of where they can open. Others, like Oakland County, are taking an aggressive stance by raiding and shutting down these facilities.
The debate is likely to continue until the new law can be challenged in court.
“There is no attorney that can say yes or no,” said Bruce Block, a Grand Rapids attorney who handles many marijuana cases. “We can only make educated guesses.”
Other communities
The medical marijuana issue has been relatively quiet in most other Jackson area communities. A few townships are looking at the issue. However, the city of Jackson is the only one working on an ordinance that would limit where a dispensary — operating legally or not — could open. Jackson City Manager Warren Renando said he wants to handle dispensaries the same way as exotic dance clubs and pornographic stores: zone them for industrial areas. The city hasn’t experienced any issues yet, but Renando said he wants to be prepared. The ordinance should be introduced to the city council within the next 30 to 60 days.
Breaking down the gray areas
While there is no consensus on the legality of dispensaries, attorneys on both sides are busy building their arguments.
Detroit-based attorney Matthew Abel, who has more than 100 open cases regarding marijuana law, argues that Michigan’s law clearly protects from prosecution patients who engage in the medical use of marijuana. And “medical use” is defined by the law as “the acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession, deliver, transfer, or transportation of marijuana” to alleviate “a registered patient’s debilitating medical condition.”
The key word is transfer, Abel said. Since a patient is not a caregiver, they are not limited to distributing to only five patients, which makes dispensaries like D & N permissible, he said.
“I think the law is fairly clear,” Abel said. “The problem is the government didn’t write this law and the government doesn’t like (it).”
However, Mark Blumer, Jackson County chief assistant prosecuting attorney, cites the section of the law that limits dispensing to only caregivers, who could distribute marijuana to no more than five patients.
Until there’s a court ruling or a vote by three-fourths of the Legislature to change the law, Jackson County will consider any other type of dispensing illegal, Blumer said.
That said, law enforcement officials in Jackson County have no immediate plans to bust down the door of every dispensary that opens.
“We will tell them where we see the limits of the law to be,” Jackson County Sheriff Dan Heyns said.
If they continue to operate after the initial warning, Heyns said officials will enforce the law.
Schnider has invested nearly $15,000 to get D & N up and running. For others planning to open dispensaries, if a higher court ruling down the road votes against their interpretation of the law, they could face prosecution.
Schnider said he wants to continue to provide a safe avenue for patients to get medicine, he said.
As a patient, Schnider smokes medical marijuana for gout, chronic pancreatitis and blood clots. Schnider said he has had customers who have polio, multiple sclerosis, cancer, chronic pain and seizures.
“These are the types of people the medicine is actually helping,” he said, “and these are the people I have to turn away now.”
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