The sky isn't falling

Medical marijuana activism in Michigan seems to have hit a roadblock the past few weeks in the wake of the State Appeals Court decision against Compassionate Apothecary, LLC, of Mt. Pleasant. After that ruling, hundreds of so-called dispensaries shut down and there were raids in Ann Arbor, arrests in Oak Park and the bust of a grow operation in Detroit. 

All in all it had the look, at least in the media, of a massive crackdown that struck fear in the hearts of marijuana users across the state. But a closer look shows that the blanket tossed out by State Attorney General Bill Schuette may not be quashing so much as it seemed in the medical marijuana world. For example, the People's Choice alternative medicine center in Ann Arbor is still doing business right across the street from Michigan Stadium

"The ruling said you can't sell marijuana," says Harry Cayce, a medical marijuana patient, caregiver and partner at People's Choice. "As a compassion club we don't sell things; we take donations."

However,  while the People's Choice and other facilities in the area stay open, two other places in Ann Arbor, Med Mar and A2 Go Green Corp, were raided the day after the Appeals Court decision. State police, who conducted the raids, say they had nothing to do with the court decision. No one had been charged by press time so it's hard to tell what will come of those actions.

The next cases are the arrest and charges against four people associated with Big Daddy's in Oak Park. Big Daddy's was originally raided in January but not shut down; the charges and arrests came in August. The actual arrests may have been held back until prosecutors saw which way the courts were going to go on the issue, but attorney Paul Tylenda, who represents the folks charged from the Big Daddy's raid, says the charges were dated before the appeals court decision. 

The timing could be coincidental, but medical marijuana activists say it points to collusion between the court and prosecutors — that prosecutors knew what the court was going to rule before the decision was announced to the public. I don't know that was the case, but the bottom line is that this was in the works long before the court decision. Also, the defendants have not had their day in court yet and it could be that they'll be are exonerated. In the meantime, Big Daddy's, which has four locations in other cities, has closed down its Oak Park facility.

The third incident, the bust of a growing facility with 12,000 plants on Detroit's east side, had nothing to do with medical marijuana, dispensaries or sales.  It was the straight up bust of an illegal grow facility. Police say the street value of the weed confiscated is $15 million, that may be slightly inflated but it's in the ballpark. That's a pretty good return on a building that owners bought for $1,000 from the city. News reports say the building was bought by Matt Tatarian of Beverly Hills and his now ex-wife. So far Tatarian is not among those who have been charged in the bust. That could change at any time. It took several months before anybody at Big Daddy's was charged after a January raid.  However, the $15 million value does point to the fact that this was a major operation.

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