Handford, who works with a number of medical cannabis organizations across the country, also spent a couple of days lobbying in Lansing. "Sen. Jones is not our friend," she says. "When you walk into legislative offices to lobby you cannot be emotional. When you get in there get straight to it and to the point. Don't ever give up."

She also told patients and caregivers that they should experiment with all parts of the plant — leaves, stems and roots. "Grind them up, extract them; let's have zero waste in this industry."

I was impressed with the DCCC and how much business they seemed to get done at the meeting. They leave the growing classes to others and focus on protecting their rights. The club just received its federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, which made the $300 winning auction bid for one of Rosenfeld's supply cans tax deductible. The club took care of business, got all their speakers up (there were no problems with the sound system), ran an auction and a raffle, took questions from the audience, and called for lobbying action from the membership. If all clubs ran with such judicious dispatch the political end of the medical marijuana movement would be in very good care. 

I was also impressed with Rosenfeld, who left us with these words of wisdom:

"I always want to push the envelope as far as you can. But don't push it until you get arrested. If you go to jail your family goes on welfare and that's not good for anybody. As far as I'm concerned, cannabis is the fountain of youth."

Maybe it is. One guy in the crowd announced that he'd been smoking cannabis since 1948. He didn't look that old.

Larry Gabriel is a writer, musician and former editor of Metro Times. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.

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