Marijuana Smoking Club Raided By Narcotics Squad - Lansing State Journal

[MI Compassion]

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100527/NEWS01/5270339/1002/NEWS01

 

MATTHEW MILLER • MRMILLER@LSJ.COM • MAY 27, 2010

 

WILLIAMSTOWN TWP. - Terry Clark is one of more than 16,000 people in Michigan certified to smoke marijuana for medical reasons, which is exactly what he was doing Wednesday afternoon when officers from the Tri-County Metro Narcotics Squad burst into the Green Leaf Smokers Club outside Williamston with guns drawn.

 

"They treated us like criminals, forced us to the ground, even though I have to walk with a cane," said Clark, 48, who said he suffers from arthritis, seizures and chronic pain.

 

He and the one other customer in the club eventually were asked to show their state-issued medical marijuana cards, which they did, Clark said. They were then allowed to leave.

 

Law enforcement officials remained mum about the reasons for the raid and its results.

 

Lt. Tim Gill, of the Narcotics Squad, confirmed that a raid had occurred, but referred further questions to the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office.

 

Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III declined to say why the club had been raided or what officers had found there.

 

"We don't discuss matters that are under investigation," he said, adding that though his office had prepared the search warrant, "anything subsequent to the search warrant, I don't know definitively until I receive the police reports."

 

Under state law, medicinal marijuana users can grow marijuana for themselves, or the state can authorize an individual to grow it for them.

 

But the legal status of marijuana-related businesses is still hazy. Several cities have discussed regulating marijuana dispensaries, Lansing among them. The city of Howell has proposed banning them outright.

 

Wayne Dagit, owner of the Green Leaf, has said the private club does not dispense marijuana. Rather, it's a place where certified users can come to use the drug together, so long as they bring their own supply.

 

Dagit maintains that it complies with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, the ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in 2008. Dagit, who has operated the club since February, could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening. The club itself was locked.

 

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth, whose department handles law enforcement in the county, has called the club "a joke."

 

"This is exactly what law enforcement said would happen when they passed the (medical marijuana ballot measure)," he said in February. "This has nothing to do with medicinal marijuana. This has to do with getting high."

 

Reached Wednesday evening, Wriggelsworth said he would not comment on another agency's case.

 

State Journal intern Kris Turner contributed to this report.

 

Williamston Dispensary Raided May 26Th

 

Recent Arrest Of Williamston Greenleaf Clinic Owner

 

http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/index.php?/topic/19488-williamston-dispensary-raided-may-26th/

[ebung69]

Gene Wrigglesworth basically stated that the law is a joke and apparently feels he will enforce what he wants and how he wants....Nazi?