When medical marijuana laws were put in place in Michigan, not everything was covered – they merely allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana, and caregivers and patients to grow their own supply of medical marijuana, based on either how much is a reasonable supply for themselves or for the patients they look after. However, it never specifically covered whether or not dispensaries were legal – let alone establishing a process from cultivation to distribution of the plant. But that didn’t stop dispensaries from cropping up all over the state.
Unfortunately for patients who have been relying on those dispensaries, many of them have been forced to shut down over the years – and in Kent County, there were three dispensaries in total shut down by the Kent County Narcotics Enforcement Team last Tuesday. In response to these raids that will force patients to drive out of town or grow their own medical cannabis, patients and volunteers from Third Day and Provision Center dispensaries (which were closed down) will be organizing a protest of the raids at the Plainfield Township Hall on December 2nd.
“It’s just unfortunate. We’ve got a lot of cancer patients and stuff that are really benefiting from this program and now they have to drive to Lansing and other places. A lot of tears shed today,” said dispensary volunteer Forrest Powell.
Now, because the current laws do not specifically outline regulations for dispensaries, they are technically operating illegally – or at least operating in a grey area for most cities. But Kent County has had a ban on dispensaries from the get-go, so none of them should have been able to open in the first place. It’s surprising that they were even able to open and remain open as long as they did – and Plainfield Township Superintendent Cameron Van Wyngarden released a statement that the shops had continued to operate after verbal and written warnings, prior to the raids this past week.
“It will create a legit industry in the state,” said Callton. “Right now it’s been kind of the wild, wild West, where people just seem to open stuff that’s against the law and then they kind of dare their municipality to close them.”
Luckily, Governor Rick Snyder signed new regulations into law in September, which will finally create a legal system with requirements and regulations for medical marijuana industry businesses. The only downside is that they still have to work out many of the specifics after the law goes into effect in January, and dispensaries will not likely be able to even apply for a license prior to midway into next year. On the bright side, it will finally bring legitimacy to the industry in Michigan, which has been severely lacking as dispensaries around the state continue to open only to be raided and shut down in the end.
I think that’s absurd to raid n close a place after it opened to help patients with there last days on earth to be out of mortal pain people that have no pain have not a damn clue what it’s like to be n mortal pain from things like cancer spinaltanosis arthritis knee pain from acl replacement or just being able to move with out falling down ! And this is suppose to be the America that sends soldiers to war to be slaughtered when there on kids teenagers to Vietnam the us sent weed n cocaine over there to them to be used to stay awake n to keep from going out of there minds knowing any minute they were gona get blowed away ?? Some things never chang does it .
People need to be educated on the benefits of marijuana my wife has diabetes n nerve numbness n her feet n when she uses weed she has no pain n can feel her feet n walk Better n also giggles the duration of the nite ???
My dad grew marijuana some of the best weed I’ve ever had for free he had cancer he passed away n 1998 n I’m sure he enjoyed the use of a pain killer that he only thing he had to do was walk out to edge of the woods at his house n pick some weed off the trees ???
Silly waste of time and resources, however, what the Hell do these owners expect? I’m all for grassroots cannabis, but these dispensaries are a joke. I’ve been to many, rarely am I satisfied. You go and see the display meds, they look good, then you get your flowers in a container that hides the product. You pay extremely high prices, get home and find nothing like what was displayed. I don’t feel sorry for the owners one bit. You take the risk, reward, and penalty. That’s it. I promise that no dispensary inn Ann Arbor will get raided, so go there if you need. The lack of equal enforcement off the LAW, is rampant. But never in Ann Arbor. Why is that piggies? I know why, but we’d love to hear from you thugs, but you’re afraid to face anyone in a Washtenaw county jury trial. The cops just pick on the easy targets. Essentially they are sissies afraid to charge anyone where they know jury nullification will occur. And for the new government cheese provisioning center laws, I just laugh, they will fail quickly. Profit first, quality last. You’re best bet is to find a caregiver, we’re here all over this state. Quality first, profits last. You’re call.
It is a story right out of a comic book. The medical marijuana ballot initiative was passed by vote of the residents of MI about 4 years ago. Whoever wrote the part of the bill regulating marijuana dispensaries must have been smoking some pot prematurely. It has taken all this time to get the law straightened out to allow dispensaries to open legally. Come on now, was it really necessary to drag it out? I watched a post on Facebook about a guy with Parkinson’s Disease (PD),yesterday. For the first time he used a drop of THC oil under his tongue. The video showed him relaxing form the stiffness caused by PD, and his tremor stopping. I have had PD 10 years now, and it is starting to be a real burden. I would like to try THC oil, t see if it will relieve some of my symptoms. ASAP.