Local Caregivers Seek Clarity On Medical Marijuana Rules

[bobandtorey]

GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- A Lapeer caregiver has opened the first medical marijuana dispensary in Davison as part of what she's calling a holistic approach to care for patients. 

 

Jamie Fricke is hoping to provide medical assistance to people who stop by Holistic Earth, a new medical marijuana dispensary set to open in the office space once housing the Davison Chamber of Commerce off State Road.

 

 

A medical marijuana facility in Davison offering several holistic remedies has opened in the former Chamber of Commerce building.MLive.com File Photo

Fricke, operator of Holistic Earth, recently told council members the owner of Sweet Relief -- which opened as a medical marijuana consultation site, but never dispensed medicine -- did not want to remain open in the building. 

"I thought it would be a shame to see it close,” she said, with people needing care and safe access to medication. 

 

“I really believe in this. It is a quality of life issue for your citizens,” she said. Five caregivers, including Fricke, are

providing patients with medical marijuana.

 

Davison allowed a moratorium on the facilities to expire in September 2013, opting to follow state and federal

 

guidelines on medical marijuana. 

 

“I will be legally operating with the McQueen ruling and the medical marijuana act itself,” said Fricke. 

The McQueen ruling, which allowed prosecutors to close down medical marijuana dispensaries if deemed a public nuisance, led to some Genesee County medical marijuana dispensaries voluntarily closing their doors. 

 

Some apprehension remains for facility operators who are hoping bills up for debate by the state Senate will clear up some of the confusion in how they fall under the law in Genesee County.

 

But several dispensaries and collectives remain open in the area -- Five Star Meds in Mt. Morris, We Grow, Guaranteed Relief and Michigan Organic Solutions in Flint, as well as Hemphill Wellness Center in Burton -- as Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton has said he would leave it up to municipalities to come to him with issues.

Daryl Simpson, owner of Hemphill Wellness Center, said with legislative rulings and proposed bills, “I don’t think people are worried every day they are going to get busted,” but there is still concern from dispensary/collective operators.

 

Hemphill fought to stay open following the McQueen ruling, using a model laid out by Grand Blanc attorney Bruce Leach. Now, the operation uses individual lockers for caregivers to provide marijuana for up to five patients each.

 

“It’s not the greatest (setup), it’s probably the most complicated thing in the world,” he said. “But you have to use it the way you use it.”

 

With House bills 4271 and 5104 -- giving local municipalities the authorization to allow or prohibit provisioning centers and expanding the definition of non-smokeable forms of medical marijuana -- waiting on Senate votes, Simpson said, “It’s been mainly just a kind of holding pattern, checking the news, going to Lansing.”

Fricke, who operates the Lapeer Cannabis Support Group, called 4271 "kind of a Trojan horse" in enabling municipalities to decide on medical marijuana facilities, but a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling that struck down a virtual ban on marijuana in Wyoming, near Grand Rapids. 

 

 

"It’s hard because these new rulings come and kind of override anything that exists," she said, noting "They say there’s grey areas (on regulations), but ther’s not that many grey areas."

 

"The protections we were provided were supposed to be all inclusive, not exclusive," said Fricke, who hopes to also servce as an educational resource on case law in keeping patients and caregivers up-to-date on regulations. 

 

Montrose Mayor Ray Foust testified in favor of the House bills March 12 before a Michigan Senate Government Operations Committee. Foust had traveled miles to Southfield to secure medical marijuana for a sick niece, before council members approved a facility in Montrose.

 

"I call it a safe transfer center," said Foust during the committee hearing. "I don't see why anybody would have to go to some low-life place to get a medicine … We don't want 10 distributors down the line. We don't want to be known as the medical marijuana capital. We want people to be able to get their medicine. That's all."

 

If the bills are passed, Simpson said facilities could potentially saturate the area, but he wouldn't see it as competition and it would help clear up the legal ground following the McQueen ruling.

 

“One thing is how you can operate. It’s just as a headache issue for dispensaries, collectives, whatever you want to call them,” he said. “Now, everything is an uphill battle,

 

 

every single day you wonder if you are doing things right, what’s good enough.

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/03/medical_marijuana_site_in_davi.html

[bobandtorey]

Good luck Jamie we hope it works out for you stay safe 

[trichcycler]

save up your profits for legal defense to avoid accepting a plea if hassled.

be safe.

[t-pain]

caregivers arent dispensaries. what a strange title for an article.

[trichcycler]

that's true. caregivers are only allowed to transfer to their own five patients.

[bobandtorey]

http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/43658-keep-jamie-out-of-jail/?hl=%2Bjamie+%2Bfricke

[bobandtorey]

that's true. caregivers are only allowed to transfer to their own five patients.

 

 

i do agree but most would disagree and those are the ones that have shops still open and have never been raided

[beourbud]

save up your profits for legal defense to avoid accepting a plea if hassled.

be safe.

You crack me up

[bobandtorey]

save up your profits for legal defense to avoid accepting a plea if hassled.

be safe.

Thanks

 

If that would even work