Join is Monday, January 24, 2011 as we discuss Medical Marijuana in Michigan.
Network with Attorneys, Patients, Caregivers and Grow Specialists in a safe, comfortable environment.
DIGITAL VAPORIZER RAFFLE!!!!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Join us MONDAY, December 20, 2010 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
JOIN US MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2010 FROM 6:30-8 P.M. for FARMINGTON COMPASSION'S MONTHLY MEDICAL MARIJUANA MEETING!
Farmington Library, Auditorium
32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills
DIGITAL VAPORIZER RAFFLE!!!!!
Farmington Library, Auditorium
32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills
DIGITAL VAPORIZER RAFFLE!!!!!
Legality of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries an Issue of Debate in Michigan
An Oakland County narcotics team raided a Waterford Township home on Aug. 25 and gave a medical marijuana dispensary owner a choice: Give us your safe combination or your home will be destroyed in the search, resident Bill Teichman says.
On Sept. 30, three armed gunmen broke into the Liberty Clinic dispensary on Main Street in Ann Arbor, robbing the employees and customers inside, police say.
Both instances involved marijuana, dispensaries, violence and guns. And both ended with criminal charges — in one case against three men accused of robbing a clinic, and in the other, against the owner of a clinic.
Marijuana dispensary owners in Michigan appear to be under fire from all sides.
From criminal concerns to regulations, municipalities and law enforcement officials are trying to figure out what to do with a phenomenon that was never part of the state law passed in 2008: dispensaries.
The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act addresses several aspects of the burgeoning business:
* Qualified patients and caregivers can possess up to 12 plants and/or 2.5 ounces of harvested material, with the plants maintained in a locked and enclosed facility.
* Patients can designate a caregiver to grow their plants, and each caregiver can have up to five patients.
But absent from the law is any language addressing dispensaries, which have popped up all over the state since the law went into effect in April 2009. At least 12 or 13 clinics are operating in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area.
Calling themselves cooperatives, health collectives or compassion centers, dispensaries are places where patients with qualifying medical conditions — like cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and other afflictions listed in the state act — can purchase medical marijuana.
A controlled substance — which marijuana is considered under federal law — can’t technically be sold by caregivers, the state law says. That’s why dispensaries are set up as non-profits or cooperatives that take “donations” for services in exchange for product. Owners say that set-up also follows the law’s “spirit of compassion.”
The Laws
Around the country, 15 states and the District of Columbia allow for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Seven specifically allow dispensaries.
Like most states where medical marijuana is legal, Michigan requires patients to register. That may provide protection from arrest for possessing some marijuana for personal medical use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a non-partisan organization that tracks states’ legislative trends. With a physician’s recommendation, the proper paperwork and a fee of $100 — $25 for certain low-income individuals — a prospective patient gets the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes and a state registry ID card.
Around Ann Arbor, some dispensaries employ doctors who provide recommendations for those who want to become medical marijuana patients. Other medical marijuana hopefuls receive a recommendation from a family doctor, while some physicians refuse to sign off on medical marijuana.
In Michigan, the office administering the law finds itself under a crushing “tidal wave of paperwork” from individuals trying to register to receive an ID card, said Celeste Clarkson, manager of the registry program. Her office receives between 150 and 850 applications a day, she said. The card expires after one year, compounding the workload.
But the federal government sees no difference between “medical marihuana,” as it’s called under Michigan law, and the street drug.
Marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act, placing it in the same category as methamphetamine, heroin, LSD and Mescalin. Schedule I substances are illegal, considered to have a high potential for dependency and have no accepted medical use. Comparatively, cocaine is classified as a schedule II substance “because there are legitimate medical uses in some surgical procedures,” said Rich Isaacson, a special agent for the Detroit division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The DEA targets large-scale drug trafficking organizations manufacturing the drugs in the U.S. or bringing drugs here, he said. It’s not interested in individual users.
“The DEA doesn’t use its resources to target the people who are following state law,” Isaacson said.
In October 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sent a memo to federal prosecutors discouraging them from prosecuting those who distribute marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with state law.
Amid that contradiction between federal and Michigan law — and confusion in the state law — different counties have approached the issue differently.
To Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, it’s crystal clear.
“In Michigan, the act does not authorize dispensaries or cooperatives,” Cooper wrote in a Detroit Free Press editorial. “We constantly read about townships and cities agonizing over how to zone medical marihuana dispensaries. The answer is simple. No dispensaries are allowed under Michigan law and they are clearly prohibited under federal law.”
Cooper said by e-mail that numerous individuals use the MMMA as a shield for criminal activities, something voters didn’t anticipate when they approved the new law by 63 percent of the vote.
She wouldn’t discuss specifics or say how many raids have been conducted or how many marijuana clinics have been shut down in Oakland County. “We do not keep track on the basis of defenses ( spurious or otherwise ),” she said.
But a few of those raided are talking.
Teichman, whose home was raided in August, works as a product engineer for an automaker, and he and his wife, Candace, own a diner called Everybody’s Cafe in Waterford Township.
They started opening the cafe doors after hours to medical marijuana cardholders interested in talking shop and trading product in February, at members-only gatherings commonly referred to as compassion clubs. At the meetings, registered medical marijuana users also smoked pot at the restaurant. In June, the Teichmans opened a new business, a medical marijuana dispensary called Herbal Remedies.
Herbal Remedies lasted 33 days before a narcotics squad raided it, along with Teichman’s restaurant and home. Police took cash, computers, passports, guns and four years of tax records for his restaurant. Teichman said Tuesday he hasn’t gotten any of it back. He said the six weapons taken were registered — he hunts with his two sons and is a concealed pistol permit holder.
According to the Oakland Press, the Teichmans were among 20 individuals busted Aug. 25 for providing pot. Now, the couple faces felony charges in Oakland County court related to the delivery and manufacturing of marijuana, Bill Teichman said. In court, the Teichmans’ attorney said undercover cops used fake medical marijuana ID cards to purchase marijuana and orchestrate the bust. The attorney called that move as “entrapment.”
The Midwest Cultivator, a one-year-old, Ypsilanti-based medical marijuana trade publication, has undertaken a series on drug raids.
Charmie Gholson, co-owner and editor of the pro-pot publication, admits criminal activity is likely connected to some dispensaries.
“We’re emerging from the black market,” she said. “There are people coming in from out of state who want to get in on this gold rush, and there are people who are going to maintain that criminal element of their life.”
But she points out some of those being raided are everyday people without criminal ambitions who thought they were following the law.
In Washtenaw County, no medical marijuana clinic raids have occurred, authorities said. And this area has long had a more lax attitude when it comes to pot smoking.
Ann Arbor is home to the yearly Hash Bash and decriminalized marijuana long ago — making possession of a small amount of pot a $5 civil infraction ticket ( now $25 ). Ann Arbor approved its own medical marijuana laws four years ahead of the rest of the state.
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie said he didn’t vote to legalize medical marijuana and doesn’t think dispensaries are legally allowed.
Mackie said he’s concerned about people using marijuana and driving, an offense that carries a penalty of 93 days in jail and/or fines between $100 and $500 and/or 360 hours of community service on a first offense. The status as a medical marijuana cardholder doesn’t legalize driving while under the influence of marijuana.
The Clinics
Owners and proponents of dispensaries say it’s about the medicine and compassion for the suffering — not about making money.
Magdalena Cox, co-owner of a dispensary called the Green Bee Collective at 401 S. Maple Road, said her place isn’t a “pot shop.”
“We’re there to help the sick so they don’t have to go on the street corner,” she said.
The Liberty Clinic is located in rented office space at 206 S. Main Street, where the odor of marijuana was present on a recent day. Loud music blared, and a crowd of people waited in chairs and on their feet for their chance to purchase marijuana from a back room. They cheered when a patron emerged and announced he had won the week’s raffle and a free eighth of an ounce of weed.
Liberty Clinic is owned by James Chaney, who goes by Chainsaw and has been convicted of drug trafficking in Ohio, records show. He did not return calls from AnnArbor.com.
At OM of Medicine, an airy, third-floor loft space a few blocks north of Liberty Clinic, patrons are under video surveillance and have to be buzzed in through two locked doors. Inside, artwork is affixed to exposed-brick walls. Recently, a young, tattooed man perused the product – different edible products like brownies and various strains of marijuana sold by the gram – on an iPad. OM business partners Keith Lambert and Christian Davis founded the dispensary.
They want OM to be “a dispensary you could send your grandma to,” Davis said.
“We want to be something Ann Arbor would be proud of,” Lambert added. “A good reflection of the city.”
Long-time medical marijuana activist Chuck Ream said local supporters like himself feel relatively safe in Washtenaw County in their efforts to provide medicine to sick people. Ream is a partner in MedMAR Pharmaceuticals Inc., a dispensary at 1818 Packard in Ann Arbor.
“Outside of Washtenaw County, people are being destroyed for trying to help people who are sick,” he said.
Ream said MedMAR’s business partners poured $100,000 into improving a disintegrating, vacant building. He declined to name the business partners, but said they’re involved in the construction and automotive industries.
At MedMAR, an office space with a soothing vibe and comfortable beige couches, the marijuana is kept locked up, behind a wall outfitted with two-way mirrors. At dispensaries, back rooms like MedMAR’s are only accessible to those who hold state-issued cards.
Those involved with dispensaries say they’re concerned about crime and take measures to prevent it.
“I want a high-quality industry where people are in it for the patients,” Ream said. “Any one stupid person can destroy it for all of us.”
Lambert of OM said safety is a top priority.
“We keep our product in safes and in locked rooms,” he said. “We want it to be safe.”
Economic Boon
Dispensary partners say the clinics create job growth in a stagnant economy.
3rd Coast Compassion Center in Ypsilanti, which opened Jan. 1, considers itself to be the first public dispensary in the state of Michigan, partner Darrell Stavros said.
The clinic at 19 N. Hamilton St. in downtown Ypsilanti has its own online TV station and employs 11 people, Stavros said. He said neighboring businesses have been supportive of his efforts.
Abe Asani has owned 24-hour diner Abe’s Coney Island for 25 years. It’s down the street from 3rd Coast.
Because of 3rd Coast, more people are coming to Ypsilanti, he said.
“In this economy, every little thing helps. Not just me, everybody in the area. It helps business,” he said.
3rd Coast partner Jamie Lowell said the building — it has in its various incarnations been a funeral home and a mortgage company — was vacant for several years before the clinic moved in. The 7,000-square foot space is also home to The Midwest Cultivator and Puff Danny’s Glass Boutique, which bills itself as a “high-quality head shop” with Michigan blown glass.
Future of Dispensaries
After a number of dispensaries moved in locally, municipalities took swift action to decide if — and how — to regulate them.
“We’ve tried to provide reasonable regulations for businesses that are going to operate as dispensaries, and those include certain safety requirements and limitations of total licenses,” Ann Arbor city attorney Stephen Postema said.
Among the actions by cities, townships and villages:
The Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees passed a zoning ordinance addressing dispensaries in May 2010, without a moratorium, said Mike Radzik, director of the township’s office of community standards. Its zoning ordinances says dispensaries and nurseries have to be at least 1,000 feet apart and cannot be within 1,000 feet of a public library, school or college, place of worship, residential district, or child care organization. Marijuana can’t be consumed at a dispensary or a nursery.
The Ypsilanti City Council approved a three-month moratorium in July on new licenses for medical marijuana businesses, but approved a zoning ordinance Wednesday. It now allows dispensaries in three city business districts. The dispensaries cannot be within 1,000 feet of a school, and marijuana can’t be grown or consumed on the premises. The city will allow for grow facilities, places where multiple caregivers can grow their plants under one roof, in certain industrial districts. Grow facilities and dispensaries must be at least 500 feet apart. A licensing ordinance that addresses dispensaries is expected to come before the council in January, city planner Teresa Gillotti said.
The Ann Arbor City Council instituted 60-day moratorium in November while it simultaneously crafts zoning and licensing regulations. The latest ordinance discussed Monday would cap the total number of dispensaries at 15 and ban those convicted of a misdemeanor involving any controlled substance or any felony from operating them. The city would charge a to-be-determined fee for an annual license and require dispensary partners to list all affiliated business managers and physicians.
Saline banned them outright, while Chelsea officials are expected to vote to ban dispensaries later this month.
Dexter and Dexter Township both have moratoriums in place while planners discuss possible regulations.
Different Opinions
Individual opinions about dispensaries vary.
Ben Ogren, a 20-year-old Washtenaw Community College student, said he favors dispensaries. He is a qualified patient with sinus problems, he said.
Medical marijuana cards are popular among college students, according to Ogren.
“Pretty much everyone is doing the whole dispensary thing,” he said.
Faith Hopp, a Wayne State University professor who lives in Pittsfield Township, voted in favor of the law in 2008. She doesn’t use medical marijuana, but has friends who do. Dispensaries haven’t been on her radar, she said.
“I thought it was good to find a way to make it legal and hopefully make it safe,” she said. “I still support the idea behind the law.”
The last thing people who are sick should worry about is the legality of medicine that makes them feel better, she said. Hopp works with hospice centers in Michigan, researching social work issues related to end-of-life care.
“But it sounds like it’s being used for recreational use,” she continued. “The people who voted for the law didn’t support recreational use — the voters voted for medicinal use.”
Dale Franz, 73, has purchased marijuana from the Liberty Clinic.
“It has an effect that can be positive in most circumstances for people’s wise use, careful use,” said Franz, a former journalist who uses a vaporizer to take medical marijuana. Franz has severe sciatic nerve pain, he said, and marijuana helps him sleep and manage his pain without opiate-based painkillers like Vicodin.
“We allow people to make their own decision about whether they are going to drive if they have a drink of alcohol, but we have inconsistent rules about other kinds of things that should also be a matter of maturity and good behavior,” Franz said.
Former Ann Arbor resident Andy Goodrich now lives in San Jose, where dispensaries have been around for several years. California was the first to legalize marijuana for medical use in the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
Goodrich said the dispensaries in San Jose don’t concern him. He recently voted in favor of Proposition 19, the latest effort by a state to make marijuana legal.
“I don’t think it’s a problem,” he said.
Ann Arbor resident Daniel Berland, a chronic pain doctor and an anesthesiology professor at the University of Michigan, called medical marijuana “a joke.”
“It’s just legalized drug dealing,” he said. “And if that’s what we want to do, then what we should do is just legalize it.”
Berland spends his life traveling around trying to convince doctors most medicines should be withdrawn because he believes medications, painkillers in particular, mostly harm people. That includes narcotics frequently decried by the medical marijuana enthusiasts, like morphine and Vicodin.
“The vast majority of people dancing their way into the dispensaries are potheads who want pot,” he said. “The whole process, for the entire state, should be started over. There’s nothing in the law about dispensaries. Nothing.”
Source: Ann Arbor News (MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Ann Arbor News
Contact: http://www.mlive.com/mailforms/aanews/letters/
Website: http://www.annarbor.com/
Author: Juliana Keeping
On Sept. 30, three armed gunmen broke into the Liberty Clinic dispensary on Main Street in Ann Arbor, robbing the employees and customers inside, police say.
Both instances involved marijuana, dispensaries, violence and guns. And both ended with criminal charges — in one case against three men accused of robbing a clinic, and in the other, against the owner of a clinic.
Marijuana dispensary owners in Michigan appear to be under fire from all sides.
From criminal concerns to regulations, municipalities and law enforcement officials are trying to figure out what to do with a phenomenon that was never part of the state law passed in 2008: dispensaries.
The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act addresses several aspects of the burgeoning business:
* Qualified patients and caregivers can possess up to 12 plants and/or 2.5 ounces of harvested material, with the plants maintained in a locked and enclosed facility.
* Patients can designate a caregiver to grow their plants, and each caregiver can have up to five patients.
But absent from the law is any language addressing dispensaries, which have popped up all over the state since the law went into effect in April 2009. At least 12 or 13 clinics are operating in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area.
Calling themselves cooperatives, health collectives or compassion centers, dispensaries are places where patients with qualifying medical conditions — like cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and other afflictions listed in the state act — can purchase medical marijuana.
A controlled substance — which marijuana is considered under federal law — can’t technically be sold by caregivers, the state law says. That’s why dispensaries are set up as non-profits or cooperatives that take “donations” for services in exchange for product. Owners say that set-up also follows the law’s “spirit of compassion.”
The Laws
Around the country, 15 states and the District of Columbia allow for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Seven specifically allow dispensaries.
Like most states where medical marijuana is legal, Michigan requires patients to register. That may provide protection from arrest for possessing some marijuana for personal medical use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a non-partisan organization that tracks states’ legislative trends. With a physician’s recommendation, the proper paperwork and a fee of $100 — $25 for certain low-income individuals — a prospective patient gets the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes and a state registry ID card.
Around Ann Arbor, some dispensaries employ doctors who provide recommendations for those who want to become medical marijuana patients. Other medical marijuana hopefuls receive a recommendation from a family doctor, while some physicians refuse to sign off on medical marijuana.
In Michigan, the office administering the law finds itself under a crushing “tidal wave of paperwork” from individuals trying to register to receive an ID card, said Celeste Clarkson, manager of the registry program. Her office receives between 150 and 850 applications a day, she said. The card expires after one year, compounding the workload.
But the federal government sees no difference between “medical marihuana,” as it’s called under Michigan law, and the street drug.
Marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act, placing it in the same category as methamphetamine, heroin, LSD and Mescalin. Schedule I substances are illegal, considered to have a high potential for dependency and have no accepted medical use. Comparatively, cocaine is classified as a schedule II substance “because there are legitimate medical uses in some surgical procedures,” said Rich Isaacson, a special agent for the Detroit division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The DEA targets large-scale drug trafficking organizations manufacturing the drugs in the U.S. or bringing drugs here, he said. It’s not interested in individual users.
“The DEA doesn’t use its resources to target the people who are following state law,” Isaacson said.
In October 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sent a memo to federal prosecutors discouraging them from prosecuting those who distribute marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with state law.
Amid that contradiction between federal and Michigan law — and confusion in the state law — different counties have approached the issue differently.
To Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, it’s crystal clear.
“In Michigan, the act does not authorize dispensaries or cooperatives,” Cooper wrote in a Detroit Free Press editorial. “We constantly read about townships and cities agonizing over how to zone medical marihuana dispensaries. The answer is simple. No dispensaries are allowed under Michigan law and they are clearly prohibited under federal law.”
Cooper said by e-mail that numerous individuals use the MMMA as a shield for criminal activities, something voters didn’t anticipate when they approved the new law by 63 percent of the vote.
She wouldn’t discuss specifics or say how many raids have been conducted or how many marijuana clinics have been shut down in Oakland County. “We do not keep track on the basis of defenses ( spurious or otherwise ),” she said.
But a few of those raided are talking.
Teichman, whose home was raided in August, works as a product engineer for an automaker, and he and his wife, Candace, own a diner called Everybody’s Cafe in Waterford Township.
They started opening the cafe doors after hours to medical marijuana cardholders interested in talking shop and trading product in February, at members-only gatherings commonly referred to as compassion clubs. At the meetings, registered medical marijuana users also smoked pot at the restaurant. In June, the Teichmans opened a new business, a medical marijuana dispensary called Herbal Remedies.
Herbal Remedies lasted 33 days before a narcotics squad raided it, along with Teichman’s restaurant and home. Police took cash, computers, passports, guns and four years of tax records for his restaurant. Teichman said Tuesday he hasn’t gotten any of it back. He said the six weapons taken were registered — he hunts with his two sons and is a concealed pistol permit holder.
According to the Oakland Press, the Teichmans were among 20 individuals busted Aug. 25 for providing pot. Now, the couple faces felony charges in Oakland County court related to the delivery and manufacturing of marijuana, Bill Teichman said. In court, the Teichmans’ attorney said undercover cops used fake medical marijuana ID cards to purchase marijuana and orchestrate the bust. The attorney called that move as “entrapment.”
The Midwest Cultivator, a one-year-old, Ypsilanti-based medical marijuana trade publication, has undertaken a series on drug raids.
Charmie Gholson, co-owner and editor of the pro-pot publication, admits criminal activity is likely connected to some dispensaries.
“We’re emerging from the black market,” she said. “There are people coming in from out of state who want to get in on this gold rush, and there are people who are going to maintain that criminal element of their life.”
But she points out some of those being raided are everyday people without criminal ambitions who thought they were following the law.
In Washtenaw County, no medical marijuana clinic raids have occurred, authorities said. And this area has long had a more lax attitude when it comes to pot smoking.
Ann Arbor is home to the yearly Hash Bash and decriminalized marijuana long ago — making possession of a small amount of pot a $5 civil infraction ticket ( now $25 ). Ann Arbor approved its own medical marijuana laws four years ahead of the rest of the state.
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie said he didn’t vote to legalize medical marijuana and doesn’t think dispensaries are legally allowed.
Mackie said he’s concerned about people using marijuana and driving, an offense that carries a penalty of 93 days in jail and/or fines between $100 and $500 and/or 360 hours of community service on a first offense. The status as a medical marijuana cardholder doesn’t legalize driving while under the influence of marijuana.
The Clinics
Owners and proponents of dispensaries say it’s about the medicine and compassion for the suffering — not about making money.
Magdalena Cox, co-owner of a dispensary called the Green Bee Collective at 401 S. Maple Road, said her place isn’t a “pot shop.”
“We’re there to help the sick so they don’t have to go on the street corner,” she said.
The Liberty Clinic is located in rented office space at 206 S. Main Street, where the odor of marijuana was present on a recent day. Loud music blared, and a crowd of people waited in chairs and on their feet for their chance to purchase marijuana from a back room. They cheered when a patron emerged and announced he had won the week’s raffle and a free eighth of an ounce of weed.
Liberty Clinic is owned by James Chaney, who goes by Chainsaw and has been convicted of drug trafficking in Ohio, records show. He did not return calls from AnnArbor.com.
At OM of Medicine, an airy, third-floor loft space a few blocks north of Liberty Clinic, patrons are under video surveillance and have to be buzzed in through two locked doors. Inside, artwork is affixed to exposed-brick walls. Recently, a young, tattooed man perused the product – different edible products like brownies and various strains of marijuana sold by the gram – on an iPad. OM business partners Keith Lambert and Christian Davis founded the dispensary.
They want OM to be “a dispensary you could send your grandma to,” Davis said.
“We want to be something Ann Arbor would be proud of,” Lambert added. “A good reflection of the city.”
Long-time medical marijuana activist Chuck Ream said local supporters like himself feel relatively safe in Washtenaw County in their efforts to provide medicine to sick people. Ream is a partner in MedMAR Pharmaceuticals Inc., a dispensary at 1818 Packard in Ann Arbor.
“Outside of Washtenaw County, people are being destroyed for trying to help people who are sick,” he said.
Ream said MedMAR’s business partners poured $100,000 into improving a disintegrating, vacant building. He declined to name the business partners, but said they’re involved in the construction and automotive industries.
At MedMAR, an office space with a soothing vibe and comfortable beige couches, the marijuana is kept locked up, behind a wall outfitted with two-way mirrors. At dispensaries, back rooms like MedMAR’s are only accessible to those who hold state-issued cards.
Those involved with dispensaries say they’re concerned about crime and take measures to prevent it.
“I want a high-quality industry where people are in it for the patients,” Ream said. “Any one stupid person can destroy it for all of us.”
Lambert of OM said safety is a top priority.
“We keep our product in safes and in locked rooms,” he said. “We want it to be safe.”
Economic Boon
Dispensary partners say the clinics create job growth in a stagnant economy.
3rd Coast Compassion Center in Ypsilanti, which opened Jan. 1, considers itself to be the first public dispensary in the state of Michigan, partner Darrell Stavros said.
The clinic at 19 N. Hamilton St. in downtown Ypsilanti has its own online TV station and employs 11 people, Stavros said. He said neighboring businesses have been supportive of his efforts.
Abe Asani has owned 24-hour diner Abe’s Coney Island for 25 years. It’s down the street from 3rd Coast.
Because of 3rd Coast, more people are coming to Ypsilanti, he said.
“In this economy, every little thing helps. Not just me, everybody in the area. It helps business,” he said.
3rd Coast partner Jamie Lowell said the building — it has in its various incarnations been a funeral home and a mortgage company — was vacant for several years before the clinic moved in. The 7,000-square foot space is also home to The Midwest Cultivator and Puff Danny’s Glass Boutique, which bills itself as a “high-quality head shop” with Michigan blown glass.
Future of Dispensaries
After a number of dispensaries moved in locally, municipalities took swift action to decide if — and how — to regulate them.
“We’ve tried to provide reasonable regulations for businesses that are going to operate as dispensaries, and those include certain safety requirements and limitations of total licenses,” Ann Arbor city attorney Stephen Postema said.
Among the actions by cities, townships and villages:
The Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees passed a zoning ordinance addressing dispensaries in May 2010, without a moratorium, said Mike Radzik, director of the township’s office of community standards. Its zoning ordinances says dispensaries and nurseries have to be at least 1,000 feet apart and cannot be within 1,000 feet of a public library, school or college, place of worship, residential district, or child care organization. Marijuana can’t be consumed at a dispensary or a nursery.
The Ypsilanti City Council approved a three-month moratorium in July on new licenses for medical marijuana businesses, but approved a zoning ordinance Wednesday. It now allows dispensaries in three city business districts. The dispensaries cannot be within 1,000 feet of a school, and marijuana can’t be grown or consumed on the premises. The city will allow for grow facilities, places where multiple caregivers can grow their plants under one roof, in certain industrial districts. Grow facilities and dispensaries must be at least 500 feet apart. A licensing ordinance that addresses dispensaries is expected to come before the council in January, city planner Teresa Gillotti said.
The Ann Arbor City Council instituted 60-day moratorium in November while it simultaneously crafts zoning and licensing regulations. The latest ordinance discussed Monday would cap the total number of dispensaries at 15 and ban those convicted of a misdemeanor involving any controlled substance or any felony from operating them. The city would charge a to-be-determined fee for an annual license and require dispensary partners to list all affiliated business managers and physicians.
Saline banned them outright, while Chelsea officials are expected to vote to ban dispensaries later this month.
Dexter and Dexter Township both have moratoriums in place while planners discuss possible regulations.
Different Opinions
Individual opinions about dispensaries vary.
Ben Ogren, a 20-year-old Washtenaw Community College student, said he favors dispensaries. He is a qualified patient with sinus problems, he said.
Medical marijuana cards are popular among college students, according to Ogren.
“Pretty much everyone is doing the whole dispensary thing,” he said.
Faith Hopp, a Wayne State University professor who lives in Pittsfield Township, voted in favor of the law in 2008. She doesn’t use medical marijuana, but has friends who do. Dispensaries haven’t been on her radar, she said.
“I thought it was good to find a way to make it legal and hopefully make it safe,” she said. “I still support the idea behind the law.”
The last thing people who are sick should worry about is the legality of medicine that makes them feel better, she said. Hopp works with hospice centers in Michigan, researching social work issues related to end-of-life care.
“But it sounds like it’s being used for recreational use,” she continued. “The people who voted for the law didn’t support recreational use — the voters voted for medicinal use.”
Dale Franz, 73, has purchased marijuana from the Liberty Clinic.
“It has an effect that can be positive in most circumstances for people’s wise use, careful use,” said Franz, a former journalist who uses a vaporizer to take medical marijuana. Franz has severe sciatic nerve pain, he said, and marijuana helps him sleep and manage his pain without opiate-based painkillers like Vicodin.
“We allow people to make their own decision about whether they are going to drive if they have a drink of alcohol, but we have inconsistent rules about other kinds of things that should also be a matter of maturity and good behavior,” Franz said.
Former Ann Arbor resident Andy Goodrich now lives in San Jose, where dispensaries have been around for several years. California was the first to legalize marijuana for medical use in the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
Goodrich said the dispensaries in San Jose don’t concern him. He recently voted in favor of Proposition 19, the latest effort by a state to make marijuana legal.
“I don’t think it’s a problem,” he said.
Ann Arbor resident Daniel Berland, a chronic pain doctor and an anesthesiology professor at the University of Michigan, called medical marijuana “a joke.”
“It’s just legalized drug dealing,” he said. “And if that’s what we want to do, then what we should do is just legalize it.”
Berland spends his life traveling around trying to convince doctors most medicines should be withdrawn because he believes medications, painkillers in particular, mostly harm people. That includes narcotics frequently decried by the medical marijuana enthusiasts, like morphine and Vicodin.
“The vast majority of people dancing their way into the dispensaries are potheads who want pot,” he said. “The whole process, for the entire state, should be started over. There’s nothing in the law about dispensaries. Nothing.”
Source: Ann Arbor News (MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Ann Arbor News
Contact: http://www.mlive.com/mailforms/aanews/letters/
Website: http://www.annarbor.com/
Author: Juliana Keeping
ACLU Sues 3 Cities Over Medical Pot Bans
Arguing that cities do not have the power to veto a state law passed by a majority of Michigan voters, the ACLU of Michigan is suing three Metro Detroit communities that have enacted medical marijuana bans.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of Linda and Robert Lott of Birmingham, alleges that Livonia, Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham have adopted ordinances effectively banning the couple and other patients from legally using medical marijuana.
“We’re seeing a lot of cities that are passing very burdensome ordinances that stand in the way of patients and their doctors on this issue,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Dan Korobkin. “These ordinances are not only cruel; they’re illegal and must stop.”
Linda Lott, 61, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for 28 years, is legally blind and uses a wheelchair. She uses medical marijuana to control muscle spasms.
“It’s simply unfair for these cities to try to play doctor and tell me how to treat a disease I’ve lived with for 28 years,” she said. “I could have a terrible spasm, and a little bit of marijuana would take it away in just a few minutes.”
Michigan voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2008. The act, which decriminalized the use of medical marijuana for debilitating medical conditions, passed by 71 percent in Birmingham, 63 percent in Livonia and 62 percent in Bloomfield Hills.
Bloomfield Hills City Manager Jay Cravens and Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey both said Wednesday they believe their ordinances are in compliance with state and federal law.
“We don’t have a ban on medical marijuana. We have an ordinance that deals with medical marijuana,” Cravens said.
The ACLU says the targeted ordinances make no direct reference to medical marijuana, but deem it unlawful to engage in any activity within city limits that is contrary to federal law. The group argues the federal government does not prosecute those who comply with state law and that Michigan’s medical marijuana law specifically says that patients and caregivers approved to use the drug cannot be subject to prosecution.
Local governments have been struggling over how to interpret the law.
Oakland County officials issued a 63-page document in August to guide local authorities as they enact regulations. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who ordered a survey and analysis of local approaches, said Wednesday that more clarity — not more lawsuits — is needed to improve the poorly worded law. He said what the ACLU is doing is a waste of time.
Patterson, along with Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, maintain that dispensaries – — businesses that sell medical marijuana — are illegal under the act.
“I’m a lawyer and I’d like the ACLU to show me what civil rights are being violated here as we try to manage distribution of a controlled substance,” Patterson said. “There is nothing but chaos going on here. There is no quality control ( in the dispensaries ); you don’t know what you are getting.
“I think a compassionate public was duped when this law was passed.”
Michael Komorn, a Southfield-based medical marijuana activist and attorney, said Wednesday the ACLU’s decision to sue the cities amounts to a stance for democracy and for the will of the people.
“Are taxpayers aware of what this battle is about?” he said. “( The local bans ) say what you voted for as a majority doesn’t count in these cities. The referendum that produced this law is the closest participation that voters can have in a democratic process. We created it and we had a choice to vote for it. These cities have disregarded that.”
The ACLU lawsuit seeks to have the local ordinances declared invalid.
“When patients use medical marijuana in compliance with state law, they shouldn’t be penalized for it,” Korobkin said.
Robert Lott, 61, is licensed as his wife Linda’s caregiver and was recently diagnosed with glaucoma. He owns a building in Livonia where he would like to grow medical marijuana for him and Linda to use.
“I’m not against the city. I just don’t understand how they feel they can interfere with what treatment I use to care for my wife and alleviate her pain,” Lott said. “We aren’t criminals and we refuse to be treated like such.”
Under federal law, marijuana use for any purpose is illegal. Yet the ACLU says that the federal government does not prosecute patients and caregivers who comply with their state’s medical marijuana laws.
In September, a Michigan Court of Appeals judge urged lawmakers to clarify the state’s medical marijuana law, saying the “inartfully drafted” measure has resulted in confusion and arrests.
Judge Peter O’Connell issued his call in a 30-page opinion on an Oakland County case in which the court upheld marijuana possession charges against two Madison Heights residents.
The judge said the law is so confusing that users “who proceed without due caution” could “lose both their property and their liberty.”
O’Connell argued that sections of the law contradict the Michigan Public Health Code that makes possession and manufacture of the drug illegal.
Raids in August on dispensaries in Ferndale and Waterford Township resulted in arrests and the seizure of marijuana and medical records. Lapeer County Sheriff’s deputies also searched a medical marijuana dispensary in Dryden, confiscating marijuana and cash.
Confusion over Michigan’s medical marijuana initiative has led to patients with valid prescriptions losing their jobs or being threatened with eviction from their homes.
Many federally subsidized housing complexes believe they must follow federal laws or risk losing federal funding.
The ACLU case was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Contact: http://detnews.com/article/99999999/INFO/71011004
Website: http://detnews.com/
Authors: RoNeisha Mullen and Jennifer Chambers, The Detroit News
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of Linda and Robert Lott of Birmingham, alleges that Livonia, Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham have adopted ordinances effectively banning the couple and other patients from legally using medical marijuana.
“We’re seeing a lot of cities that are passing very burdensome ordinances that stand in the way of patients and their doctors on this issue,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Dan Korobkin. “These ordinances are not only cruel; they’re illegal and must stop.”
Linda Lott, 61, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for 28 years, is legally blind and uses a wheelchair. She uses medical marijuana to control muscle spasms.
“It’s simply unfair for these cities to try to play doctor and tell me how to treat a disease I’ve lived with for 28 years,” she said. “I could have a terrible spasm, and a little bit of marijuana would take it away in just a few minutes.”
Michigan voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2008. The act, which decriminalized the use of medical marijuana for debilitating medical conditions, passed by 71 percent in Birmingham, 63 percent in Livonia and 62 percent in Bloomfield Hills.
Bloomfield Hills City Manager Jay Cravens and Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey both said Wednesday they believe their ordinances are in compliance with state and federal law.
“We don’t have a ban on medical marijuana. We have an ordinance that deals with medical marijuana,” Cravens said.
The ACLU says the targeted ordinances make no direct reference to medical marijuana, but deem it unlawful to engage in any activity within city limits that is contrary to federal law. The group argues the federal government does not prosecute those who comply with state law and that Michigan’s medical marijuana law specifically says that patients and caregivers approved to use the drug cannot be subject to prosecution.
Local governments have been struggling over how to interpret the law.
Oakland County officials issued a 63-page document in August to guide local authorities as they enact regulations. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who ordered a survey and analysis of local approaches, said Wednesday that more clarity — not more lawsuits — is needed to improve the poorly worded law. He said what the ACLU is doing is a waste of time.
Patterson, along with Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, maintain that dispensaries – — businesses that sell medical marijuana — are illegal under the act.
“I’m a lawyer and I’d like the ACLU to show me what civil rights are being violated here as we try to manage distribution of a controlled substance,” Patterson said. “There is nothing but chaos going on here. There is no quality control ( in the dispensaries ); you don’t know what you are getting.
“I think a compassionate public was duped when this law was passed.”
Michael Komorn, a Southfield-based medical marijuana activist and attorney, said Wednesday the ACLU’s decision to sue the cities amounts to a stance for democracy and for the will of the people.
“Are taxpayers aware of what this battle is about?” he said. “( The local bans ) say what you voted for as a majority doesn’t count in these cities. The referendum that produced this law is the closest participation that voters can have in a democratic process. We created it and we had a choice to vote for it. These cities have disregarded that.”
The ACLU lawsuit seeks to have the local ordinances declared invalid.
“When patients use medical marijuana in compliance with state law, they shouldn’t be penalized for it,” Korobkin said.
Robert Lott, 61, is licensed as his wife Linda’s caregiver and was recently diagnosed with glaucoma. He owns a building in Livonia where he would like to grow medical marijuana for him and Linda to use.
“I’m not against the city. I just don’t understand how they feel they can interfere with what treatment I use to care for my wife and alleviate her pain,” Lott said. “We aren’t criminals and we refuse to be treated like such.”
Under federal law, marijuana use for any purpose is illegal. Yet the ACLU says that the federal government does not prosecute patients and caregivers who comply with their state’s medical marijuana laws.
In September, a Michigan Court of Appeals judge urged lawmakers to clarify the state’s medical marijuana law, saying the “inartfully drafted” measure has resulted in confusion and arrests.
Judge Peter O’Connell issued his call in a 30-page opinion on an Oakland County case in which the court upheld marijuana possession charges against two Madison Heights residents.
The judge said the law is so confusing that users “who proceed without due caution” could “lose both their property and their liberty.”
O’Connell argued that sections of the law contradict the Michigan Public Health Code that makes possession and manufacture of the drug illegal.
Raids in August on dispensaries in Ferndale and Waterford Township resulted in arrests and the seizure of marijuana and medical records. Lapeer County Sheriff’s deputies also searched a medical marijuana dispensary in Dryden, confiscating marijuana and cash.
Confusion over Michigan’s medical marijuana initiative has led to patients with valid prescriptions losing their jobs or being threatened with eviction from their homes.
Many federally subsidized housing complexes believe they must follow federal laws or risk losing federal funding.
The ACLU case was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Contact: http://detnews.com/article/99999999/INFO/71011004
Website: http://detnews.com/
Authors: RoNeisha Mullen and Jennifer Chambers, The Detroit News
Improve The Medical Marijuana Act
There’s little debate that the state’s Medical Marijuana Act needs to be clarified. It has been two years since Michigan voters approved the use of medical marijuana by patients with severe illnesses, police raids on marijuana dispensaries and lawsuits over medical marijuana are regularly making the news.
Just Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the cities of Livonia, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills on behalf of a couple who want to use or grow marijuana for medical uses in those three cities.
The debate revolves around where patients can access and use medical marijuana, boiling down to the question: Should marijuana dispensaries be legal in Michigan?
YES
State should set up a system of dispensaries to better serve and protect patients
From a legal standpoint, the Michigan act does not speak to dispensaries directly. It also does not specify how patients or caregivers may acquire or grow marijuana. Instead, it provides protection for those assisting patients and caregivers in obtaining cannabis. Let’s stop using law enforcement resources to arrest and prosecute patients and focus on establishing an expanded, safer distribution system, said Michael Komorn, board member of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.
NO
Michigan’s act needs stronger protections for communities, minors, public safety
In Michigan, the Medical Marijuana Act does not authorize dispensaries or cooperatives. We constantly read about townships and cities agonizing over how to zone medical marijuana dispensaries. The answer is simple. No dispensaries are allowed under Michigan law, and they are clearly prohibited under federal law. The passage of the Michigan act was done in the spirit of compassion, because the public believed it would provide relief to those suffering certain severe and debilitating diseases. The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, as it stands today, does not adequately protect the people it was designed to help, said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Published: December 2, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Contact: letters@freepress.com
Just Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the cities of Livonia, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills on behalf of a couple who want to use or grow marijuana for medical uses in those three cities.
The debate revolves around where patients can access and use medical marijuana, boiling down to the question: Should marijuana dispensaries be legal in Michigan?
YES
State should set up a system of dispensaries to better serve and protect patients
From a legal standpoint, the Michigan act does not speak to dispensaries directly. It also does not specify how patients or caregivers may acquire or grow marijuana. Instead, it provides protection for those assisting patients and caregivers in obtaining cannabis. Let’s stop using law enforcement resources to arrest and prosecute patients and focus on establishing an expanded, safer distribution system, said Michael Komorn, board member of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.
NO
Michigan’s act needs stronger protections for communities, minors, public safety
In Michigan, the Medical Marijuana Act does not authorize dispensaries or cooperatives. We constantly read about townships and cities agonizing over how to zone medical marijuana dispensaries. The answer is simple. No dispensaries are allowed under Michigan law, and they are clearly prohibited under federal law. The passage of the Michigan act was done in the spirit of compassion, because the public believed it would provide relief to those suffering certain severe and debilitating diseases. The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, as it stands today, does not adequately protect the people it was designed to help, said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Published: December 2, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Contact: letters@freepress.com
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
JOIN US MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2010
Farmington Compassion will meet Monday, November 22, 2010 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30p.m. to discuss Michigan's Medical Marijuana Program. Network with Patients and Caregivers in a safe and comfortable environment.
32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills (Library Auditorium)
32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills (Library Auditorium)
Arizona Becomes 15th State To Approve Marijuana
Phoenix -- By a narrow margin, Arizona voters have approved medical marijuana for people with chronic or debilitating diseases. The decision makes Arizona the 15th state to have approved a medical marijuana law. California was the first in 1996, and 13 other states and the District of Columbia followed.
The ballot measure on the issue, Proposition 203, won by just 4,341 votes out of more than 1.67 million ballots counted, according to final tallies announced on Saturday.
The approval came as something of a surprise. At one point on Election Day, the measure trailed by about 7,200 votes. The gap gradually narrowed until it edged ahead during counting on Friday. The final tally was 841,346 in favor and 837,005 opposed.
“We really believe that we have an opportunity to set an example to the rest of the country on what a good medical marijuana program looks like,” said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project.
The Arizona measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C and any other “chronic or debilitating” disease that meets guidelines to grow plants or to buy two and a half ounces of marijuana every two weeks.
The patients must obtain a recommendation from their doctor and register with the Arizona Department of Health Services. The law allows for no more than 124 marijuana dispensaries in the state.
Backers of Proposition 203 argued that thousands of patients faced “a terrible choice” of suffering with a serious or even terminal illness or going to the criminal market for marijuana. They collected more than 252,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot, nearly 100,000 more than required.
The measure was opposed by all of Arizona’s sheriffs and county prosecutors, the governor, the state attorney general and many other politicians.
Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep AZ Drug Free, the group that organized opposition to the initiative, said her group believed that the law would increase crime around dispensary locations, lead to more people driving while impaired and eventually lead to legalized marijuana for everyone.
She said that the major financial backer of the new measure, the Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, makes its ultimate goal clear: national legalization.
“All of the political leaders came out and warned Arizonans that this was going to have very dire effects on a number of levels,” Ms. Short said after votes for the measure pulled into the lead late Friday. “I don’t think that all Arizonans have heard those dire predictions.”
A version of this article appeared in print on November 15, 2010, on page A14 of the New York edition.
Source: New York Times (NY)
The ballot measure on the issue, Proposition 203, won by just 4,341 votes out of more than 1.67 million ballots counted, according to final tallies announced on Saturday.
The approval came as something of a surprise. At one point on Election Day, the measure trailed by about 7,200 votes. The gap gradually narrowed until it edged ahead during counting on Friday. The final tally was 841,346 in favor and 837,005 opposed.
“We really believe that we have an opportunity to set an example to the rest of the country on what a good medical marijuana program looks like,” said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project.
The Arizona measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C and any other “chronic or debilitating” disease that meets guidelines to grow plants or to buy two and a half ounces of marijuana every two weeks.
The patients must obtain a recommendation from their doctor and register with the Arizona Department of Health Services. The law allows for no more than 124 marijuana dispensaries in the state.
Backers of Proposition 203 argued that thousands of patients faced “a terrible choice” of suffering with a serious or even terminal illness or going to the criminal market for marijuana. They collected more than 252,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot, nearly 100,000 more than required.
The measure was opposed by all of Arizona’s sheriffs and county prosecutors, the governor, the state attorney general and many other politicians.
Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep AZ Drug Free, the group that organized opposition to the initiative, said her group believed that the law would increase crime around dispensary locations, lead to more people driving while impaired and eventually lead to legalized marijuana for everyone.
She said that the major financial backer of the new measure, the Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, makes its ultimate goal clear: national legalization.
“All of the political leaders came out and warned Arizonans that this was going to have very dire effects on a number of levels,” Ms. Short said after votes for the measure pulled into the lead late Friday. “I don’t think that all Arizonans have heard those dire predictions.”
A version of this article appeared in print on November 15, 2010, on page A14 of the New York edition.
Source: New York Times (NY)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
DIGITAL VAPORIZER RAFFLE THIS SUNDAY
Join Farmington Compassion this SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2010 from 3-4:30 p.m. at the Farmington Library, 32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills.
We will discuss Michigan's Medical Marijuana Movement, How to Become a Patient/Caregiver, and much more.
Network with Grow Specialists, Patients, Caregivers, Attorney's and Physicians.
One-on-one legal advice from Michelle Komorn, one of the leading attorneys dealing with the Medical Marijuana Movement.
BDT's Pipe & Tobacco and Farmington Compassion will be RAFFLING a DIGITAL VAPORIZER during the next meeting!
Refreshments and snacks will be provided.
Several representatives from different Hydroponic Supply Stores will be present to answer growing questions.
We will discuss Michigan's Medical Marijuana Movement, How to Become a Patient/Caregiver, and much more.
Network with Grow Specialists, Patients, Caregivers, Attorney's and Physicians.
One-on-one legal advice from Michelle Komorn, one of the leading attorneys dealing with the Medical Marijuana Movement.
BDT's Pipe & Tobacco and Farmington Compassion will be RAFFLING a DIGITAL VAPORIZER during the next meeting!
Refreshments and snacks will be provided.
Several representatives from different Hydroponic Supply Stores will be present to answer growing questions.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sheriff Explains Action Against Medical Marijuana Sellers, Growers
One day after an investigation that resulted in 15 arrests, the closure of two medical marijuana dispensaries and the seizure of approximately $750,000 worth of marijuana products, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard spoke about what he sees as a growing problem.
“This is Michigan. This is not a Cheech and Chong movie,” Bouchard said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Ferndale’s Clinical Relief medical marijuana dispensary, 362 Hilton, was among the establishments that were raided Wednesday by undercover officers with Oakland County’s Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Police action may not have come as a surprise to employees there. Bouchard said the Sheriff’s Office recently warned those at the facility that police believed they were participating in illegal activity.
Undercover officers allegedly bought marijuana at the facility without a medical marijuana card, which is required for a legal purchase of the drug. Marijuana also was being sold in the parking lot, and undercover officers witnessed hand-to-hand drug deals, Bouchard said.
Other drugs were also confiscated, and the owner had solicited others to buy high-end marijuana to sell in the establishment, he said.
“There were many commonalties with what we regularly see in drug houses,” Bouchard said. “One place had live alligators walking around protecting the product.”
The evidence was on display for the media, ranging from jars of a wide variety of marijuana strains and marijuana plants to candy, cookies, sugar and lollipops, along with several guns.
Everybody’s Cafe, in Waterford Township, was raided under similar circumstances Wednesday, after officers said they purchased marijuana without proper credentials there. Police also raided multiple residences, though the locations of those homes were not released.
Many arrest details are not yet available because no suspects have been arraigned. Arraignment could be as soon as today, Bouchard said.
“( Marijuana is ) illegal to use except in certain, limited circumstances,” Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said during the press conference. “In Michigan, it is very limited.”
Limits include a cap on plants per patient ( 12 ) and patients per caregiver ( five ). Patients are not able to purchase the drug legally from anyone other than their designated caregiver, and marijuana plants must be maintained in an enclosed, locked facility.
“No dispensaries are authorized,” Cooper said. “No co-ops are authorized.”
She said the state’s medical marijuana act is quite different from that of other states, like California.
“Most of the population does not understand that,” Cooper said. “Medical marijuana is an exception ( that has been ) carved out for people who have a debilitating disease.”
Both Bouchard and Cooper agreed that the statute needs clarification. They suggested changes that might make the law clearer.
“New Jersey has one state-run dispensary,” Cooper said. “That would eliminate the need for caregivers and eliminate the need for growers.”
Bouchard said a tamper-proof medical marijuana card with a photo ID should be required. A photo is not required on the current cards.
“There’s no way an officer or a deputy can verify that it’s a valid card,” Bouchard said.
Law enforcement officials don’t want to deal with the issue, Bouchard said, noting that enforcement can be costly and require many resources.
“We don’t want to deal with this at all if it’s within the scope of the law,” Bouchard said. “It’s going to divert a lot of precious resources from things we could and should be doing. This is not something we should be spending a lot of time and money on.”
Bouchard said in his opinion, voters decided that people who were suffering deserved to have their pain lessened when the measure passed in November 2008.
“This has gone far ( away ) from that,” he said. Patients have received medical marijuana cards for things such as stomachaches and shoulder pain, Bouchard said, while others have taken the opportunity to “take an illegal operation and give it the air of legality.”
An investigation is ongoing and more arrests could be made. Suspects could face charges such as possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and manufacturing marijuana, with penalties ranging from 90 days to 15 years imprisonment.
“This is a clear abuse of Michigan’s medical marijuana exemption,” Bouchard said. “It will get nothing but worse. There will be more problems unless the Legislature does its job.”
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Tribune
Contact: editor@dailytribune.com
Website: http://www.dailytribune.com/
Author: Dave Phillips, For the Daily Tribune
“This is Michigan. This is not a Cheech and Chong movie,” Bouchard said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Ferndale’s Clinical Relief medical marijuana dispensary, 362 Hilton, was among the establishments that were raided Wednesday by undercover officers with Oakland County’s Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Police action may not have come as a surprise to employees there. Bouchard said the Sheriff’s Office recently warned those at the facility that police believed they were participating in illegal activity.
Undercover officers allegedly bought marijuana at the facility without a medical marijuana card, which is required for a legal purchase of the drug. Marijuana also was being sold in the parking lot, and undercover officers witnessed hand-to-hand drug deals, Bouchard said.
Other drugs were also confiscated, and the owner had solicited others to buy high-end marijuana to sell in the establishment, he said.
“There were many commonalties with what we regularly see in drug houses,” Bouchard said. “One place had live alligators walking around protecting the product.”
The evidence was on display for the media, ranging from jars of a wide variety of marijuana strains and marijuana plants to candy, cookies, sugar and lollipops, along with several guns.
Everybody’s Cafe, in Waterford Township, was raided under similar circumstances Wednesday, after officers said they purchased marijuana without proper credentials there. Police also raided multiple residences, though the locations of those homes were not released.
Many arrest details are not yet available because no suspects have been arraigned. Arraignment could be as soon as today, Bouchard said.
“( Marijuana is ) illegal to use except in certain, limited circumstances,” Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said during the press conference. “In Michigan, it is very limited.”
Limits include a cap on plants per patient ( 12 ) and patients per caregiver ( five ). Patients are not able to purchase the drug legally from anyone other than their designated caregiver, and marijuana plants must be maintained in an enclosed, locked facility.
“No dispensaries are authorized,” Cooper said. “No co-ops are authorized.”
She said the state’s medical marijuana act is quite different from that of other states, like California.
“Most of the population does not understand that,” Cooper said. “Medical marijuana is an exception ( that has been ) carved out for people who have a debilitating disease.”
Both Bouchard and Cooper agreed that the statute needs clarification. They suggested changes that might make the law clearer.
“New Jersey has one state-run dispensary,” Cooper said. “That would eliminate the need for caregivers and eliminate the need for growers.”
Bouchard said a tamper-proof medical marijuana card with a photo ID should be required. A photo is not required on the current cards.
“There’s no way an officer or a deputy can verify that it’s a valid card,” Bouchard said.
Law enforcement officials don’t want to deal with the issue, Bouchard said, noting that enforcement can be costly and require many resources.
“We don’t want to deal with this at all if it’s within the scope of the law,” Bouchard said. “It’s going to divert a lot of precious resources from things we could and should be doing. This is not something we should be spending a lot of time and money on.”
Bouchard said in his opinion, voters decided that people who were suffering deserved to have their pain lessened when the measure passed in November 2008.
“This has gone far ( away ) from that,” he said. Patients have received medical marijuana cards for things such as stomachaches and shoulder pain, Bouchard said, while others have taken the opportunity to “take an illegal operation and give it the air of legality.”
An investigation is ongoing and more arrests could be made. Suspects could face charges such as possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and manufacturing marijuana, with penalties ranging from 90 days to 15 years imprisonment.
“This is a clear abuse of Michigan’s medical marijuana exemption,” Bouchard said. “It will get nothing but worse. There will be more problems unless the Legislature does its job.”
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Tribune
Contact: editor@dailytribune.com
Website: http://www.dailytribune.com/
Author: Dave Phillips, For the Daily Tribune
Traverse City Approves Marijuana Regulations
Traverse City, MI — New regulations that dictate when and where city residents can grow and distribute medical marijuana could be changed if problems arise.
City commissioners on Monday gave final approval to a new ordinance that regulates land-use issues tied to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. It takes effect Aug. 26.
The ordinance allows for cultivation of up to 72 marijuana plants in single-family homes, and that concerns those who believe such activity could degrade the city’s residential neighborhoods. But commissioners weren’t ready to rule out residential growth.
“This law is not set in concrete,” Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Soffredine said. “We can bring it back to the table, and we can tweak it and do what we want to do with it. But we need to give it a chance.”
The Michigan Medical Marijuana act, approved in 2008, allows patients to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 plants. It also allows designated caregivers to grow and distribute plants to up to five patients.
But the act doesn’t specify where or when patients and caregivers can grow or exchange marijuana, so municipalities across the state were left to decide for themselves.
The new ordinance doesn’t affect the amount of plants a patient can have under state law, or the number of plants a caregiver can grow or distribute.
It instead specifies where legal marijuana-related activity can occur within city limits.
City resident Julia Wagner told commissioners she’s uncomfortable with marijuana growth in residential districts.
She voted in favor of medical marijuana, but assumed it would be closely regulated and available only at pharmacies.
“I had no idea that this could invade my neighborhood,” she said.
Her view was shared by Adrienne Rossi, a Central Neighborhood resident who called marijuana growth “extremely unhealthy for our residential neighborhoods.”
Pro-medical marijuana activists countered that residential growth allows patients easier and safer access to the drug.
Current residential growth hasn’t led to significant problems, they said, and the city could expose itself to potential litigation if it tries to prevent residents from exercising a right afforded under state law.
The ordinance allows for cultivation in excess of 72 plants in industrial districts, provided the cultivation facility owner obtains a license from the city.
It also allows for medical marijuana “collectives” in most commercial districts of the city.
Any medical marijuana that fits within the confines of the Medical Marijuana Act can change hands in such collectives, but growing isn’t allowed there.
Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI)
Author: Art Bukowski
Published: August 17, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Contact: letters@record-eagle.com
Website: http://www.record-eagle.com/
City commissioners on Monday gave final approval to a new ordinance that regulates land-use issues tied to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. It takes effect Aug. 26.
The ordinance allows for cultivation of up to 72 marijuana plants in single-family homes, and that concerns those who believe such activity could degrade the city’s residential neighborhoods. But commissioners weren’t ready to rule out residential growth.
“This law is not set in concrete,” Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Soffredine said. “We can bring it back to the table, and we can tweak it and do what we want to do with it. But we need to give it a chance.”
The Michigan Medical Marijuana act, approved in 2008, allows patients to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 plants. It also allows designated caregivers to grow and distribute plants to up to five patients.
But the act doesn’t specify where or when patients and caregivers can grow or exchange marijuana, so municipalities across the state were left to decide for themselves.
The new ordinance doesn’t affect the amount of plants a patient can have under state law, or the number of plants a caregiver can grow or distribute.
It instead specifies where legal marijuana-related activity can occur within city limits.
City resident Julia Wagner told commissioners she’s uncomfortable with marijuana growth in residential districts.
She voted in favor of medical marijuana, but assumed it would be closely regulated and available only at pharmacies.
“I had no idea that this could invade my neighborhood,” she said.
Her view was shared by Adrienne Rossi, a Central Neighborhood resident who called marijuana growth “extremely unhealthy for our residential neighborhoods.”
Pro-medical marijuana activists countered that residential growth allows patients easier and safer access to the drug.
Current residential growth hasn’t led to significant problems, they said, and the city could expose itself to potential litigation if it tries to prevent residents from exercising a right afforded under state law.
The ordinance allows for cultivation in excess of 72 plants in industrial districts, provided the cultivation facility owner obtains a license from the city.
It also allows for medical marijuana “collectives” in most commercial districts of the city.
Any medical marijuana that fits within the confines of the Medical Marijuana Act can change hands in such collectives, but growing isn’t allowed there.
Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI)
Author: Art Bukowski
Published: August 17, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Contact: letters@record-eagle.com
Website: http://www.record-eagle.com/
City on Target With Marijuana Ordinance
Lansing is doing the right thing by bringing medical marijuana care-givers under its ordinance for home businesses. Doing so will allow the city to set requirements that protect neighborhoods, preserve public safety and also provide a clear framework for those choosing this relatively new type of business.
Since Michigan passed its medical marijuana ballot proposal in 2008, patients have been able to seek a doctor’s approval and then register with the state. Doing so makes them eligible to either grow plants for themselves or find a state registered care-giver, who will grow the plants and prepare the marijuana for use.
But what the ballot proposal didn’t do was create a structure for dealing with a wide array of businesses that support the new medical marijuana industry, such as medical marijuana dispensaries or home-based medical marijuana caregivers.
Lansing is working on ordinances that address both the dispensaries, which would locate on commercially zoned property, and the home-based care-givers, who would be permitted to operate in residential neighborhoods, but only if they meet certain criteria.
While there has been concern in some parts that local government or local law enforcement would make it difficult for medical marijuana entrepreneurs, Lansing’s approach to date has been right on the mark.
As City Attorney Brig Smith recently commented about the home occupation ordinance:
“The goal is to regulate this occupation just like we would regulate others, whether the home occupation is growing tomato plants or medical marijuana.”
That’s more than reasonable. And a review of the ordinance finds it fairly straight forward as well.
The ordinance prohibits such businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of public or private schools, colleges, youth centers, arcades and public swimming pools. That’s reasonable, given that marijuana is still a controlled substance. The ordinance also parallels state rules in requiring that marijuana be kept in an enclosed, locked space.
The majority of Michiganians voted in favor of medical marijuana, wanting this treatment option for those who may benefit. Lansing is on the right path to create a clear set of laws for entrepreneurs involved in serving these patients while at the same time protecting its residents.
Source: Lansing State Journal (MI)
Published: August 17, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Lansing State Journal
Website: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/
Since Michigan passed its medical marijuana ballot proposal in 2008, patients have been able to seek a doctor’s approval and then register with the state. Doing so makes them eligible to either grow plants for themselves or find a state registered care-giver, who will grow the plants and prepare the marijuana for use.
But what the ballot proposal didn’t do was create a structure for dealing with a wide array of businesses that support the new medical marijuana industry, such as medical marijuana dispensaries or home-based medical marijuana caregivers.
Lansing is working on ordinances that address both the dispensaries, which would locate on commercially zoned property, and the home-based care-givers, who would be permitted to operate in residential neighborhoods, but only if they meet certain criteria.
While there has been concern in some parts that local government or local law enforcement would make it difficult for medical marijuana entrepreneurs, Lansing’s approach to date has been right on the mark.
As City Attorney Brig Smith recently commented about the home occupation ordinance:
“The goal is to regulate this occupation just like we would regulate others, whether the home occupation is growing tomato plants or medical marijuana.”
That’s more than reasonable. And a review of the ordinance finds it fairly straight forward as well.
The ordinance prohibits such businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of public or private schools, colleges, youth centers, arcades and public swimming pools. That’s reasonable, given that marijuana is still a controlled substance. The ordinance also parallels state rules in requiring that marijuana be kept in an enclosed, locked space.
The majority of Michiganians voted in favor of medical marijuana, wanting this treatment option for those who may benefit. Lansing is on the right path to create a clear set of laws for entrepreneurs involved in serving these patients while at the same time protecting its residents.
Source: Lansing State Journal (MI)
Published: August 17, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Lansing State Journal
Website: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/
Friday, August 6, 2010
Farmington Compassion Medical Marijuana Meeting MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2010
Join us Monday, August 23, 2010 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Farmington Library, 32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd.
We will discuss issues that affect Michigan's Medical Marijuana Community. Network with Attorneys, Grow Specialists, Caregivers and Patients.
DIGITAL VAPORIZER RAFFLE!
We will discuss issues that affect Michigan's Medical Marijuana Community. Network with Attorneys, Grow Specialists, Caregivers and Patients.
DIGITAL VAPORIZER RAFFLE!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Farmington Compassion Meeting TUESDAY June 22
Join us TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2010 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Farmington Library, 32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills.
Farmington Compassion and BDT's Pipe & Tobacco will be raffling a Digital Vaporizer during the meeting.
Public Meeting, everyone is welcome 18+ or accompanied by a parent/guardian.
Farmington Compassion and BDT's Pipe & Tobacco will be raffling a Digital Vaporizer during the meeting.
Public Meeting, everyone is welcome 18+ or accompanied by a parent/guardian.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Meeting Tonight!
Please join us TONIGHT at the Farmington Library, 32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills.
Farmington Compassion and BDT's Pipe & Tobacco will be raffling a Digital Vaporizer during TONIGHT'S meeting!
We will discuss issues that affect the Michigan Medical Marijuana Community in a safe and comfortable environment.
Refreshments will be available.
We will also be taking reservations for Bud's & Blues 2, a private medicated friendly event featuring ColdPeppa, Detroit's hottest blues band, taking place Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 6-10 p.m. at Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, 32407 Northwestern Highway, Farmington Hills.
Farmington Compassion and BDT's Pipe & Tobacco will be raffling a Digital Vaporizer during TONIGHT'S meeting!
We will discuss issues that affect the Michigan Medical Marijuana Community in a safe and comfortable environment.
Refreshments will be available.
We will also be taking reservations for Bud's & Blues 2, a private medicated friendly event featuring ColdPeppa, Detroit's hottest blues band, taking place Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 6-10 p.m. at Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, 32407 Northwestern Highway, Farmington Hills.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Hash Bash April 3, 2010
Hash Bash is an annual event held in Ann Arbor, Michigan on the first Saturday of April. The event is a collection of speeches, live music, street vending centered around the goal of reforming federal, state and local marijuana laws.
The first Hash Bash was held in 1971. The campus of the University of Michigan sits upon state property, and so anyone caught with marijuana on any campus location is subject to the more strict state marijuana laws.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
CannaSutra
CannaSutra is 70% Indica and 30% Sativa. It provides a clear-headed, uplifting medicated affect with a distinctly sweet smell and taste. It provides a good yield with a sweet aroma and stimulating sativa medicated feeling.
CannaSutra's mild yet mood elevating affect tends to boost mental focus rather than derailing it.
The smoke is incense like, sweet, aromatic and soft. Some users report strong bronchial dilation, which may alleviate asthma and related conditions.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Marijuana Vaporizer Health Benefits
Vaporization is a technique for avoiding irritating respiratory toxins in marijuana smoke by heating cannabis to a temperature where the psychoactive ingredients evaporate without causing combustion.
Through a vaporizer, cannabis is heated and not burnt, releasing THC as vapor which is inhaled rather than smoke. Laboratory studies by California NORML and MAPS have justified how vaporizes can efficiently transport cannabinoids without the risk of inhaling harmful toxins.
Vaporizers heat cannabis to a temperature of 180 – 200°C, translating that it is not fully combusted and no smoke is produced. With such, THC and other medically active cannabinoids are emitted with reduced, if not totally eliminated, carcinogenic tars and noxious gases found in smoke.
Farmington Compassion Members receive 15-20% discounts at BDT's Pipe and Tobacco. If you are interested in becoming a member please call (248) 633-4239.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Shortbread Hearts!
Shortbread Hearts:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound cannabutter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound good-quality white chocolate, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon vegetable shortening
Red or other food coloring (optional)
Directions:
1.Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Place cannabutter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until just combined. Do not whip. Add vanilla; mix. Add flour mixture; mix on low until dough starts to come together. Transfer to a floured board; knead into a ball. Wrap in plastic; chill 30 minutes.
2.Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out heart shapes using a 3-inch heart cookie cutter. Place hearts on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake until lightly browned, bake for 20 minutes (or until slightly brown). Transfer to wire racks to cool.
3.While cookies bake, melt chocolate in a small bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Add shortening; whisk until smooth. Dip cooled shortbread into chocolate to coat surface evenly, or brush on with pastry brush; let set. Color remaining chocolate mixture, and pipe onto cookies as desired.
Brownie Cupcakes!
Brownie Cupcakes:
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 3/4 sticks cannabutter
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Buttercream Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks cannabutter, softened
1/2 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Brownie Cupcake Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Coat an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray, line bottom with parchment, then spray parchment.
2.Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until chocolate melts.
3.Attach bowl to mixer, add sugar, and whisk on medium-high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture.
4.Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Spread remaining batter in square pan. Bake until set but still soft, about 25 minutes. Let cool in tins and pan on wire racks.
5.Frost cupcakes with buttercream. Cut out 24 hearts from brownie in pan using a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter. Top each cupcake with a heart.
Buttercream Directions:
1.Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2.Reduce speed to medium. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes. (After every 2 additions, increase speed to high, and beat for 10 seconds, then reduce speed to medium-high). Add vanilla, and beat until buttercream is smooth.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Endless Sky
Endless Sky is 90% Indica and 10% Sativa.
Like many indicas, Endless Sky does well in soil but really flourishes in hydro, where it grows very fast. It's moderate size and limited branching make Endless Sky a good choice for small space. When flowered at 10-12 inches tall, these plants reach 24-30 inches at harvest.
This strain provides a potent, indica-type stone that has been reported to provide pain relief. Endless Sky provides sedation, relaxation and also aids with sleep.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Shortbread Cookies
Shortbread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered confectioner sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Filling:
1/2 cup of raspberry jam or homemade raspberry preserves
2 ounces white chocolate, grated
Homemade Raspberry Preserves:
2 cups frozen raspberries, unsweetened
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
a few drops of fresh lemon juice
Shortbread:
In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2 to 3 inch cookie cutter to cut out the dough. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the centers of half of the cookies on the baking sheet. (You will be sandwiching two cookies together and there will be a small 'window or cut out' in the top cookie so you can see the jam underneath.) Place the unbaked cookies, on the baking sheet, in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
To Assemble Cookies: Place the cookies with the cut-outs on a wire rack and dust the tops with the confectioners' sugar.
On the bottom surface of the full cookie (top of cookie will face out) spread with about a 1/4 teaspoon of jam. Sprinkle with a little grated white chocolate. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together. Using a small spoon, fill the cut-out with a little more jam.
Makes about 12 sandwich cookies.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Valentine Cookies!
Valentine's Day gives us such a wonderful excuse to make cookies, why not make them a little more "interesting" this year. Medicating should be fun. This easy sugar cookie recipe will add a little excitement to any Patient or Caregivers holiday!
Recipe yield 4 dozen
Sugar CannaCookies:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Cannabutter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting:
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the cannabutter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
(Frosting) In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Compassion Clubs are the "backbone" of Michigan's Medical Marijuana Movement
"Community caregiver/patient networking through local Compassion Clubs is currently the backbone of the medical marijuana movement in Michigan. Shouldn't we focus on events which support LOCAL community Compassion Clubs rather than illegal statewide dispensaries and large commercial growing operations?" - Bob Heflin
http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/node/15662
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Find the Right Medical Marijuana for Your Condition
Finding the perfect stain of medical marijuana can be very overwhelming due to the infinite number of possibilites. Each strain will provide a different medicated affect. Patients suffering from different medical conditions will require different srains.
INDICA:
Generally more physical than cerebral (however, the relief of physical symptoms can have a positive psychological effect;
sedation, pain relief and relaxation;
best for later in the day and bedtime;
perhaps better for anxiety than depression;
reduces pain;
muscle relaxant;
relieves spasms, reduces seizures;
reduces inflammation;
aids sleep;
reduces anxiety and stress;
reduces nausea;
stimulates appetite;
relieves headaches and migraines;
reduces intra-occular pressure; and
expectorant;
SATIVA:
more stimulating and uplifting;
energizing and thought provoking;
increases focus and creativity;
supports immune system;
best for use in daytime;
reduces nausea;
stimulates the appetite;
fights drepression;
positive, uplifting, cerebral effect;
energizes and stimulates;
promotes creativity;
relieves headaches and migraines;
relaxes muscles, relieves pain; and
acts as an expectorant
Most cannabis seeds and medicine available today are from hybrids - crosses of Sativa and Indica varieties.
Indica-dominant crosses are for pain relief, with the sativa component helping with energy and activity levels.
Sativa-dominant crosses are good for stimulating appetite, with the indica component helping to reduce body pain and increase relaxation.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Hash Plant
Hash Plant is an Indica. It provides a body stone medicated affect with a sweet and spicy smell and taste.
Named for its hashy-tasting, highly resinous buds, the Hash Plant has been known as an important building block for other Sensi Seeds hybrids for many years, but has rarely been made available outside of the Cannabis Castle breeding program.
Hash Plant is easy to clone, offering you a simple method for multiplying your success.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
What is a feminized seed?
Feminized seeds come from selected strains that show highly-desirable traits and they are treated with pollen collected from slightly-stressed females. This pollen almost always produces 100 percent female offspring.
Male cannabis is basically hemp and female cannabis is medicine, with few exceptions, so for a grower to know he or she is planting all females from the get-go results in less time wasted and more productive plants in the end run.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Lawmakers mull changes to Michigan's medical pot law
LANSING — Patients authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes in Michigan would no longer be allowed to grow their own supply under legislation discussed Tuesday in a state Senate committee.
The proposal could develop into the first move to change a state law approved by voters in November 2008. Republicans who back the new legislation say it’s not an attempt to undo the law, but their measures would tighten control over how the drug is distributed.
Under the new proposal, the state would license up to 10 marijuana-growing facilities rather than letting thousands of authorized patients or caregivers grow their own. Marijuana would then be distributed through pharmacists after patients get a prescription from a doctor.
Critics say that’s an unworkable proposal that would make getting marijuana more difficult for patients who use it to relieve pain and other symptoms. They say that since federal law doesn’t authorize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, doctors wouldn’t write the prescriptions and pharmacies wouldn’t fill them.
The Senate Judiciary Committee did not vote on the legislation Tuesday. Sponsors said the bills are preliminary proposals aimed at sparking discussion about how to better manage the program, formally launched by state officials in April.
As it stands, people who want to use marijuana for medical reasons must get a doctor to certify that they would benefit from it. More than 7,000 patients and 3,000 caregivers already are registered under the state program. They are allowed to grow up to 12 marijuana plants per patient.
“That’s a lot of marijuana growing out there,” said Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, a Republican from Norton Shores and one of the new legislation’s sponsors. “I do think that the system is getting out of control to a certain point.”
Some communities are passing their own ordinances regulating medical marijuana businesses and courts already are sorting out a few cases related to people arrested for possession since the new law kicked in.
“It’s an issue that we as legislators will have to grapple with sooner or later,” said Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt.
By TIM MARTIN
Associated Press
PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINIONS!! Submit written testimony either by email or regular mail
senwkulpers@senate.michigan.gov and/or
State Senator Wayne Kulpers, 30th District
PO Box 30036
Lansing, Michigan 48909
Make sure you reference Bills 616-618
The proposal could develop into the first move to change a state law approved by voters in November 2008. Republicans who back the new legislation say it’s not an attempt to undo the law, but their measures would tighten control over how the drug is distributed.
Under the new proposal, the state would license up to 10 marijuana-growing facilities rather than letting thousands of authorized patients or caregivers grow their own. Marijuana would then be distributed through pharmacists after patients get a prescription from a doctor.
Critics say that’s an unworkable proposal that would make getting marijuana more difficult for patients who use it to relieve pain and other symptoms. They say that since federal law doesn’t authorize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, doctors wouldn’t write the prescriptions and pharmacies wouldn’t fill them.
The Senate Judiciary Committee did not vote on the legislation Tuesday. Sponsors said the bills are preliminary proposals aimed at sparking discussion about how to better manage the program, formally launched by state officials in April.
As it stands, people who want to use marijuana for medical reasons must get a doctor to certify that they would benefit from it. More than 7,000 patients and 3,000 caregivers already are registered under the state program. They are allowed to grow up to 12 marijuana plants per patient.
“That’s a lot of marijuana growing out there,” said Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, a Republican from Norton Shores and one of the new legislation’s sponsors. “I do think that the system is getting out of control to a certain point.”
Some communities are passing their own ordinances regulating medical marijuana businesses and courts already are sorting out a few cases related to people arrested for possession since the new law kicked in.
“It’s an issue that we as legislators will have to grapple with sooner or later,” said Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt.
By TIM MARTIN
Associated Press
PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINIONS!! Submit written testimony either by email or regular mail
senwkulpers@senate.michigan.gov and/or
State Senator Wayne Kulpers, 30th District
PO Box 30036
Lansing, Michigan 48909
Make sure you reference Bills 616-618
Thank you all for attending!
Farmington Compassion would like to thank everyone that attended last night's meeting. We had a wonderful turn out, and we hope to see each and every one of you next month, February 18 (Farmington Community Library, 32737 W. 12 Mile Rd., Farmington Hills)
Thank you to each and every sponsor, we greatly appreciate your time and assistance.
Thank you to each and every sponsor, we greatly appreciate your time and assistance.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
MEETING TONIGHT!!!!
Farmington Compassion's FIRST Medical Marijuana MEETING is TONIGHT at the Farmington Community Library, 32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills.
We will cover the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act; Qualifying Conditions; Cultivating; Cooking; Networking with Patients/Caregivers, and much more.
You must be over 18 or accompanied by a parent/guardian to attend. For additional information please email FarmingtonCompassion@gmail.com
Monday, January 18, 2010
The American Medical Association stepping up to Federal Gov.
American Medical Association asking federal government to take marijuana off its most restrictive list of
controlled substances
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=UmerqTj6
controlled substances
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=UmerqTj6
Thursday, January 14, 2010
FIRST MEETING THIS TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 from 6:30-8:30pm
Join us January 19, 2010 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Farmington Community Library, 32737 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Our club is open to the public. We are an educational, informational and emotional support group. We will discuss the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program and Qualifications. Members have access to one-on-one attorney advice. Our mission is to educate and inform the community while providing a safe and comfortable environment to learn and network.
We ask for a minimum $3 donation fee to cover location costs, dues/fees, material, etc.
A portion of our donations will go toward The ALS Association.
Our club is open to the public. We are an educational, informational and emotional support group. We will discuss the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program and Qualifications. Members have access to one-on-one attorney advice. Our mission is to educate and inform the community while providing a safe and comfortable environment to learn and network.
We ask for a minimum $3 donation fee to cover location costs, dues/fees, material, etc.
A portion of our donations will go toward The ALS Association.
Dutch Dragon
Dutch Dragon is 75% Sativa 25% Indica. It provides an even body-head medicated affect with a fruity/sweet smell and taste.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Blue Moonshine
Blue Moonshine is an Indica. It provides a giggly, munchies, sleepy effect after medicated, with a fruity/acrid taste and smell.
The name Blue Moonshine originated in a dream. The variety that inherited this dream-inspired moniker reveals mostly indica characteristics in structure and potency.
The leaves are dark and wide. The plant produces dense, sticky buds. The aroma and flavor of both the growing bud and the finished product is strong and astringent with a distinct fruity or fermented fruity taste. The medicated high is long lasting and physical, commonly beginning with hilarity, followed by extreme appetite stimulation then sedation.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Blue Velvet
Blue Velvet is 50% Sativa 50% Indica. It produces an euphoric even head-body high with a fruity and floral taste and smell.
It's very enjoyable to the nose and palate. Expect an uplifting and euphoric experience with this variety. The buzz gives both a head and body sensation, making it good for daytime use.
Bubbleberry
Bubbleberry is 80% Sativa and 20% Indica. It produces an euphoric and cheerful high, with a pungent and skunky smell.
The name Bubbleberry is a merging of its parent variety names, Bubble Gum and Blueberry. Bubbleberry's taste is rich and smooth with a hint of fruit. This strain is recommended for beginners as well as the experimental grower looking for a variety with dependable, generous results.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
AK-47
AK-47 is 65% Sativa 35% Indica. It has a woodsy smell and sweet taste. What is the high like? Cerebral, Alert and Munchies
First bred in 1992, the name suggests the power packed in its dark, resinous, compact buds that bristle with short hairs and glistening trichomes. AK-47 has a spiced aroma bordering on skunk, with a hint of sandalwood, but tastes sweeter and more floral than the smell would lead one to expect.
AK-47 is a tall plant with substantial girth and big fat calyxes, it performs excellently in indoor environments, both soil and hydro, and has been grown outdoors with good results in Spain.
The buzz is immediate and long lasting with an alert but mellow cerebral effect. Lab tests have rated the THC content at over 20 percent, making it a "one hit wonder" for many smokers.
Friday, January 8, 2010
GET LEGIT!!!
Possession of marijuana in any amount is punishable by up to one year in jail and $2,000 fine. GET LEGIT! Farmington Compassion will have it's first Medical Marijuana meeting Tuesday, January 19, 2010 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Farmington Community Library, 32737 West 12 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, MI.
http://twitter.com/OCCompassion
http://twitter.com/OCCompassion
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