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Authorities raided two medical marijuana businesses and arrested 15 people for allegedly making illegal sales in a crackdown announced Thursday by Oakland County officials.
The arrests followed an undercover investigation that found marijuana being sold illegally, often without buyers showing state-issued medical marijuana cards, officials said. The cards are distributed to people whose doctors prescribed marijuana for pain relief.
Raids Wednesday night targeted Clinical Relief, a Ferndale clinic, and Everybody's Café, a Waterford Township restaurant that runs an after-hours "compassion club" behind closed doors. Arrests and drug seizures also occurred at Metro Detroit homes and a Macomb County warehouse, officials said.
"This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Thursday at a news conference. Deputies displayed seized items that included bagged and candied marijuana worth $750,000, hash oil, other drugs and growing equipment.
The arrests were made for offenses ranging from possession to sales and distribution of marijuana and include business operators, employees and customers, including some with state-issued medical marijuana cards.
All are jailed and expected to be charged today.
The arrests left some medical marijuana cardholders angry and confused.
"This is nothing but harassment," said Thomas Smith, 28, of Auburn Hills, a member of the Waterford Area Compassion Club, which met at Everybody's Café to use marijuana. "These are good people and haven't done anything illegal."
Bouchard said the café sells memberships for $20 a year, and state-certified patients and caregivers can participate. The club has about 450 members.
Michigan law different
The raids were carried out as Michigan municipalities grapple with enforcing the state's medical marijuana law, which voters passed in November 2008. Earlier this week, Ferndale officials lifted a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses and agreed to allow them in certain zoning areas.
Smith, who has a doctor's prescription for marijuana because of two deteriorated discs and chronic pain, showed up outside the closed café Thursday afternoon to support its absent owners.
He said marijuana has helped him escape an addiction to legal painkillers such as OxyContin.
"Those drugs kill people," Smith said. "It's the drug companies who are the drug dealers. Yet they are treating people like this as criminals. I don't get it."
Bouchard and county Prosecutor Jessica Cooper told reporters that state law in Michigan differs from that in California or any of the other 13 states that permit use of marijuana for medical purposes, such as an appetite stimulants for patients, or to reduce pain from glaucoma or HIV.
"Marijuana is illegal to possess, manufacture or sell in Michigan except for persons exempt because they have a physician's approval to use it and a card issued by the state," Cooper said. "Caregivers must also obtain a state card, and even then can only take care of five patients, for which they are allowed to grow and harvest 12 plants for each, no more."
But while nearly 30,000 residents hold state exemptions or seek them, Michigan law has no provision for dispensaries of marijuana.
Law enforcement officials are concerned that communities may become awash in dispensaries where people could improperly obtain the drug.
"People are applying laws from other states here," said Cooper. "What goes in California doesn't go here."
Owners deny allegations
Clinical Relief, which opened in June, sells 20 grades of marijuana ranging up to $700 an ounce, and reportedly has more than 1,000 customers.
During the raid there Wednesday, three people were arrested, including co-owner Matthew Curtis.
Ryan Richmond, co-owner of Clinical Relief, on Thursday denied the allegations by police as he drove to visit Curtis at the Oakland County Jail.
"They said we were selling to people who were not patients. That never happened at our store," Richmond said. "Everyone had state-approved cards."
He described the raid, which happened just after 6 p.m. Wednesday: "They had patients on the ground. There were cancer patients on the ground, senior citizens on the ground and staff on the ground," Richmond said. "They raided all of our partners' homes while their kids were home. They were taking their TVs like we were drug dealers."
Police took HIPAA-protected documents, all patient files and TVs from the clinic, he said.
"I am in shock," he said. "Our clinic is empty now. I heard them say they want a test case. That's what a detective said at the store."
Richmond said he operates a medical marijuana consultation business where certified patients can select medical marijuana grown off-site by certified caregivers.
Richmond's company also sells edibles: products that contain cannabis, including sodas, suckers and baked goods.
Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey said Clinical Relief, the city's only medical marijuana facility, was in full compliance with local rules.
"We've had zero problems -- no calls, no noise or traffic complaints. No police. We were very surprised," Covey said of the raid.
Law enforcement struggles
While Ferndale has lifted its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries, other Metro Detroit communities have been more cautious. Pontiac has a moratorium on the clinic issue, as do Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Township, Royal Oak and Southfield. Huntington Woods, like Ferndale, has zoning and permit restrictions on where clinics and caregivers can operate.
Still others, like Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, have banned medical marijuana businesses outright, citing federal law against the use and sale of marijuana.
Michael Komorn, a board member with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, which has 16,000 patients and caregivers as members, said law enforcement continues to struggle with implementation of the state's Medical Marijuana Act.
"They have been resistant to accepting marijuana as medicine," said Komorn, a Bloomfield Hills attorney.
"This is a very disturbing story. Patients were held at gunpoint and dragged out. This law was designed to protect patients and caregivers -- not expend our resources arresting patients and caregivers."
Komorn said he has heard story after story of task forces raiding homes, patients attempting to show state ID cards but instead being treated like criminals.
"We are begging law enforcement to sit down and talk about the law," he said. "Don't take it out on the patients. Go back to the ballot if you don't like the law. Don't take away our democratic process. This is the law."
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Detroit News | detnews.com | Friday, August 27, 2010 | News, sports, features, blogs, photos and forums from Detroit and Michigan
Author: Mike Martindale and Jennifer Chambers
Contact: Contact The Detroit News
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Website:Medical pot clinics busted for illegal sales
The arrests followed an undercover investigation that found marijuana being sold illegally, often without buyers showing state-issued medical marijuana cards, officials said. The cards are distributed to people whose doctors prescribed marijuana for pain relief.
Raids Wednesday night targeted Clinical Relief, a Ferndale clinic, and Everybody's Café, a Waterford Township restaurant that runs an after-hours "compassion club" behind closed doors. Arrests and drug seizures also occurred at Metro Detroit homes and a Macomb County warehouse, officials said.
"This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Thursday at a news conference. Deputies displayed seized items that included bagged and candied marijuana worth $750,000, hash oil, other drugs and growing equipment.
The arrests were made for offenses ranging from possession to sales and distribution of marijuana and include business operators, employees and customers, including some with state-issued medical marijuana cards.
All are jailed and expected to be charged today.
The arrests left some medical marijuana cardholders angry and confused.
"This is nothing but harassment," said Thomas Smith, 28, of Auburn Hills, a member of the Waterford Area Compassion Club, which met at Everybody's Café to use marijuana. "These are good people and haven't done anything illegal."
Bouchard said the café sells memberships for $20 a year, and state-certified patients and caregivers can participate. The club has about 450 members.
Michigan law different
The raids were carried out as Michigan municipalities grapple with enforcing the state's medical marijuana law, which voters passed in November 2008. Earlier this week, Ferndale officials lifted a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses and agreed to allow them in certain zoning areas.
Smith, who has a doctor's prescription for marijuana because of two deteriorated discs and chronic pain, showed up outside the closed café Thursday afternoon to support its absent owners.
He said marijuana has helped him escape an addiction to legal painkillers such as OxyContin.
"Those drugs kill people," Smith said. "It's the drug companies who are the drug dealers. Yet they are treating people like this as criminals. I don't get it."
Bouchard and county Prosecutor Jessica Cooper told reporters that state law in Michigan differs from that in California or any of the other 13 states that permit use of marijuana for medical purposes, such as an appetite stimulants for patients, or to reduce pain from glaucoma or HIV.
"Marijuana is illegal to possess, manufacture or sell in Michigan except for persons exempt because they have a physician's approval to use it and a card issued by the state," Cooper said. "Caregivers must also obtain a state card, and even then can only take care of five patients, for which they are allowed to grow and harvest 12 plants for each, no more."
But while nearly 30,000 residents hold state exemptions or seek them, Michigan law has no provision for dispensaries of marijuana.
Law enforcement officials are concerned that communities may become awash in dispensaries where people could improperly obtain the drug.
"People are applying laws from other states here," said Cooper. "What goes in California doesn't go here."
Owners deny allegations
Clinical Relief, which opened in June, sells 20 grades of marijuana ranging up to $700 an ounce, and reportedly has more than 1,000 customers.
During the raid there Wednesday, three people were arrested, including co-owner Matthew Curtis.
Ryan Richmond, co-owner of Clinical Relief, on Thursday denied the allegations by police as he drove to visit Curtis at the Oakland County Jail.
"They said we were selling to people who were not patients. That never happened at our store," Richmond said. "Everyone had state-approved cards."
He described the raid, which happened just after 6 p.m. Wednesday: "They had patients on the ground. There were cancer patients on the ground, senior citizens on the ground and staff on the ground," Richmond said. "They raided all of our partners' homes while their kids were home. They were taking their TVs like we were drug dealers."
Police took HIPAA-protected documents, all patient files and TVs from the clinic, he said.
"I am in shock," he said. "Our clinic is empty now. I heard them say they want a test case. That's what a detective said at the store."
Richmond said he operates a medical marijuana consultation business where certified patients can select medical marijuana grown off-site by certified caregivers.
Richmond's company also sells edibles: products that contain cannabis, including sodas, suckers and baked goods.
Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey said Clinical Relief, the city's only medical marijuana facility, was in full compliance with local rules.
"We've had zero problems -- no calls, no noise or traffic complaints. No police. We were very surprised," Covey said of the raid.
Law enforcement struggles
While Ferndale has lifted its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries, other Metro Detroit communities have been more cautious. Pontiac has a moratorium on the clinic issue, as do Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Township, Royal Oak and Southfield. Huntington Woods, like Ferndale, has zoning and permit restrictions on where clinics and caregivers can operate.
Still others, like Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, have banned medical marijuana businesses outright, citing federal law against the use and sale of marijuana.
Michael Komorn, a board member with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, which has 16,000 patients and caregivers as members, said law enforcement continues to struggle with implementation of the state's Medical Marijuana Act.
"They have been resistant to accepting marijuana as medicine," said Komorn, a Bloomfield Hills attorney.
"This is a very disturbing story. Patients were held at gunpoint and dragged out. This law was designed to protect patients and caregivers -- not expend our resources arresting patients and caregivers."
Komorn said he has heard story after story of task forces raiding homes, patients attempting to show state ID cards but instead being treated like criminals.
"We are begging law enforcement to sit down and talk about the law," he said. "Don't take it out on the patients. Go back to the ballot if you don't like the law. Don't take away our democratic process. This is the law."
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Detroit News | detnews.com | Friday, August 27, 2010 | News, sports, features, blogs, photos and forums from Detroit and Michigan
Author: Mike Martindale and Jennifer Chambers
Contact: Contact The Detroit News
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Website:Medical pot clinics busted for illegal sales
