Man Who Grew Too Much Medical Pot Thought He Was Following Law

[bobandtorey]

BAY CITY, MI -- Appearing before a judge to learn his penalty for having too much medical marijuana, a 65-year-old man said he began growing the crop to help an ailing friend.

He thought he was following the letter of the law, only to find his home raided by police and he and his wife facing felony charges.

Sympathetic to him, both the judge and his defense attorney shared their opinions that the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act can be a convoluted piece of legislation.

"When me and my wife ventured into this, it was never my intention to break any laws," said David A. Dabrowski the morning of Monday, April 17. "I thought I was doing everything that was supposed to be done. I wanted to help people out."

Dabrowski said he started growing medical marijuana to be a caregiver for a close friend.

 

Dabrowski in March pleaded guilty to one count of delivering or manufacturing marijuana, a four-year felony. The same day, the prosecution dismissed the same charge faced by his 64-year-old wife, Sandra K. Dabrowski.

The Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (or BAYANET) executing a search warrant on the couple's Bangor Township home on April 27, 2015. Throughout the house, officers found 96 marijuana plants, 37.7 grams of loose marijuana drying in a basket, and another batch on a table weighing approximately 1,400 grams. Police also found one marijuana plant and marijuana branches in a pole barn, Bay County Sheriff's Detective Barry Gatza testified in December 2015.

In a freezer, police found marijuana oil and several pounds of usable marijuana, Gatza said.

Dabrowski told police he and his wife were medical marijuana caregivers with five patients each, but that they co-mingled their plants.

Under the state's Medical Marijuana Act, patients can have 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana and caregivers can grow up to 12 plants producing 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana for each of their five patients and themselves. With both Dabrowskis being caregivers, but only Sandra Dabrowski a patient as well, the couple could legally have a total of 132 plants and 27.5 grams of usable, or processed, marijuana.

Defense attorney Matthew L. Reyes described his client as a "hard-working, down to earth, regular guy" who has spent years donating his time and money to community organizations.

"Like many people, he finds himself thinking he's doing this all correctly according to the statute," Reyes said.

The statute can be confusing to lawyers, and holds laypeople who become caregivers to an unprecedented level of responsibility, Reyes said.

"We've spent the last two years talking about the statute, how weights are calculated differently by different people, how stems don't count but dried marijuana does," Reyes continued, adding that while Dabrowski made mistakes, they were not intentional.

Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran said he is aware of the statute's complexities.

"The way it was drafted, it was almost intentionally drafted to be as vague and have as much confusion as possible," Sheeran said.

Sheeran ended up going along with a plea agreement for Dabrowski's sentencing to be delayed until Feb. 12. In the interim, Dabrowski is effectively on probation. He is not to possess or use marijuana, even in according with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, Sheeran ruled.

If Dabrowski is compliant with his delay, he'll be allowed to withdraw his felony plea and instead plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana. 

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2017/04/man_who_grew_too_much_medical.html

 

[bax]

i dunno, i dont see "96" or "132" plants anywhere in the MMMA.

 

is the MMMA wrong or is it "me and my wife" guy?

Edited April 20, 2017 by bax

[Restorium2]

This all started after Dabrowski put the unusable marijuana in his trash. Then the trashman got his $1000 for calling the cops about it. What a filthy animal digging around in people's trash just get get $1000 for ruining their lives over some marijuana stems in the trash. 

What good did this all do? There's no evidence of any wrongdoing. Why are stems in the trash even grounds to search a caregiver's house?

[Restorium2]

i dunno, i dont see "96" or "132" plants anywhere in the MMMA.

 

is the MMMA wrong or is it "me and my wife" guy?

I'll fill in the blanks for you; The Dambrowskis had 11 legal patients between them, counting that one of them was also a patient. They could have had 132 plants but only had 96. 

Edited April 20, 2017 by Restorium2

[bax]

the mmma does say enough marijuana to have an uninterrupted supply, so i'm wondering why they didnt go with the section 8 defense as well.

[bax]

so resto,

 

place your blame:

the mmma

the courts

the police

the trashman

the defendant

 

where do you place blame? with the evidence before you. if at all.

Edited April 20, 2017 by bax

[Restorium2]

so resto,

 

place your blame:

the mmma

the courts

the police

the trashman

the defendant

 

where do you place blame? with the evidence before you. if at all.

Being a Monday morning quarterback here;

 

This is how I would like to see my public servants acting;

 

State Cop; You found what in the trash? Marijuana stems? No, we can't pay you, trashman, for that one because the people could be legal caregivers so we can't get a warrant because our judges don't roll like that. No warrant, no potential arrest, you can keep scrounging around in the trash if you want but don't call us about some pot stems (get a life). 

[Restorium2]

So it's on the judge that signed the warrant to search the house where two legal caregivers live because they had pot stems in the trash. It all starts at the top. 

Edited April 20, 2017 by Restorium2

[Restorium2]

so resto,

 

place your blame:

the mmma

the courts

the police

the trashman

the defendant

 

where do you place blame? with the evidence before you. if at all.

Specifically, this judge;

 

"unhealthy camaraderie between the prosecutor's office and certain judges has grown into a cancer in our local criminal justice system."

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2012/05/bay_county_district_judge_timo.html

Edited April 20, 2017 by Restorium2

[bobandtorey]

This all started after Dabrowski put the unusable marijuana in his trash. Then the trashman got his $1000 for calling the cops about it. What a filthy animal digging around in people's trash just get get $1000 for ruining their lives over some marijuana stems in the trash. 

What good did this all do? There's no evidence of any wrongdoing. Why are stems in the trash even grounds to search a caregiver's house?

I do agree with you it  shouldn't

 

like smelling cannabis same thing 

[AmishRnot4ganja]

The "Man" is freaking out. I saw a report yesterday that says support for legalized marijuana is close to 60% now. They are going to lose their cash cow.

[Wild Bill]

The "Man" is freaking out. I saw a report yesterday that says support for legalized marijuana is close to 60% now. They are going to lose their cash cow.

 

By the time they get through taxing and regulating they'll have plenty of things they can still arrest you for.

[Restorium2]

By the time they get through taxing and regulating they'll have plenty of things they can still arrest you for.

Exactly. I watched a few news shows where the 'law and order Republicans' say openly they have their plan to protect their new cash cow with higher fines and prison time for anyone outside their strict rules. 

[bobandtorey]

I agree Don't get caught using or Growing  Cannabis by Leo 

 

I can not comment on the   Republicans' i would have to pull some stings 

 

it is my own opinion 

[swamper]

So why did this guy plead guilty if he was not over the allowed limit?

[Restorium2]

So why did this guy plead guilty if he was not over the allowed limit?

With the underhanded warrant they found that they had 50 ounces of usable when they could only have 27.5 ounces. 

 

They have a lot of ways to put pressure on a family to plead, even if they haven't done much wrong, even with a good attorney like Reyes. 

[bobandtorey]

I've seen it all some people get the shaft some don't  i've seen some get off with almost 200 plants and some go to prison for 2-40 years in the same court house sometime in the same court room