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BY MEGHA SATYANARAYANA AND CECIL ANGEL

DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Filed Under
Local News
Michigan
Medical Marijuana
Ann Arbor
Taylor

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The day after the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that medical marijuana dispensaries can be considered a public nuisance and could be shut down, two facilities in Ann Arbor have been raided and facilities all over the state have closed, including the Mt. Pleasant dispensary at the center of the turmoil.

Compassionate Apothecary co-owner Matthew Taylor said a cease-and-desist letter by the Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office has forced their doors shut, pushing them toward filing their case with the Michigan Supreme Court.

Under the Court of Appeals ruling, patient-to-patient sales, as happens at some dispensaries, has been deemed not part of the original legislation passed by voters in 2008. He said his facility cannot sell marijuana, which it does on behalf of caregivers who store their excess marijuana in lockers on their premises, and who pay the apothecary a service charge.

“Really, our doors are just open today for political purposes,” said Taylor, who added that “patients are scared, panicking and crying.”

Matt Newburg, a Lansing attorney who will be spearheading the Supreme Court effort, said Lansing dispensaries have also been closed. He is advising his clients to shutter “until the Supreme Court issues a different opinion or there is new legislation.”

In Oak Park, Big Daddy’s Management, which owns five dispensaries in metro Detroit, closed at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the appeals ruling was handed down. Rick Ferris, head of the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers, said patients in Big Daddy’s Chesterfield Township facility were crowding their lobby, wondering what to do.

“I have a building full of patients today,” he said.

At the A2 Go Green Corp, at 206 Main in downtown Ann Arbor, nearby business owners said the raid took place at about 10:20 a.m., shortly after the place opened.

Nearby merchants said they did not see any one being arrested but did see police carrying out boxes.

“I saw cops carrying out big boxes of stuff,” said David Fritz, of David Fritz hair care next door to the dispensary, which is located over Café Felix.

John Shultz of John Shultz Photography is also on the second floor of the building.

Both men said the marijuana outlet did a brisk business and they would often see customers carrying out brown bags. Fritz said one of the owners told him that the average customer purchases about $150 worth of marijuana.

“It’s going to be a lot quieter.” Fritz said. He added that the owners of the business were nice tenants. He said they could often smell raw marijuana in the building.

The dispensary takes up at least three suites on the floor. One of the suites housed a doctor who was connected to the dispensary.

There’s a handmade sign on the door that read “We are temporarily closed!! Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Charles Ream, president of A2r Compassionate Health Care MedMar at 1818 Packard, said three of his employees were arrested in the raid that occurred about 10:30 a.m. He said he saw two Ann Arbor police cars by the time he got to the building. Ream said law enforcement agents wore masks during the raid.

He said agents from law enforcement agencies took nearly every thing out of his business except for a large jar of coins and six cannabis cupcakes.

He and an executive assistant were spared from being arrested because the raid took place before they got to work.

He said they have five attorneys working with his employees to try to gain their release.

Ream said he will now try to get the state law changed to allow for a local option, so if local communities want to have an ordinance allowing for dispensaries, then they can do so.