Williamston Green Leaf Raid

[lawyercaregiver]

Well let me ask what to me is the obvious question:

 

Two guys in the club. Both patients so they can possess 5 total ounces (or 140 grams).

 

45 Kilos is 45,000 grams.

 

Is 45,000 larger than 140?

 

I rather doubt they took the club ledger and want to start targeting patients with 70 grams and 12 plants!

 

BYOB: Bring Your Own Bud!

 

Finally, this legislation (barring sit-down clubs) is troubling and I would like to find out how we oppose it!

 

Just my take: I could be wrong!

[AnnieBell]

Wednesday, June 9,2010

 

Negative approach

Is the case of Frederick Wayne Dagit bad for the medical marijuana cause?

by Neal McNamara

 

On Tuesday afternoon, the Rev. Frederick Wayne Dagit sat in a black- and white-striped Ingham County Jail jumpsuit in 55th District Court in Mason. He looked calm, rested and alert. It was his second appearance in court after the Tri- County Metro Narcotics Squad raided his Okemos house and Williamstown Township pot smokers club and church exactly two weeks ago, allegedly finding a total of more than 200 pounds of marijuana at both locations.

 

Michael Van Huysse, Dagit’s court appointed attorney, asked Judge Donald Allen Jr. to reduce Dagit’s $500,000 bond and for a preliminary examination to be moved up two weeks. Allen adjourned Dagit’s next hearing until June 22, but did not immediately reduce his bond. Allen said he would consider it — though only reducing it to $150,000, still outside of Dagit’s financial reach — but had concerns about Dagit’s criminal history and the fact that he’d only lived in the area for six months.

 

Van Huysse’s pleas that Dagit, who suffers from cirrhosis, was not healthy enough to remain in jail and that he was an important pillar in the medical marijuana community did not seem to faze Allen. Dagit, a medical marijuana cardholder, will remain in that striped jumpsuit until at least June 22.

 

In the two weeks since Dagit’s arrest, it appears that law enforcement officials were targeting Dagit alone — not the medical marijuana smoking club he oversaw in Williamstown Township, nor the business partners. The club is open, and no one else has been arrested. According to court documents, police set up a buy/best scenario with Dagit alone.

 

Medical marijuana activists say that while arresting someone for marijuana is stupid, it’s the law, which still has to be obeyed.

 

Greg Francisco, the former executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, says that the state needs to start regulating medical marijuana smoking clubs — like Dagit’s — so that people are not being arrested for violating an unclear law.

 

Francisco said that he and Dagit have “struck sparks” in the past and was not surprised about the arrest. He said that before his arrest, Dagit seemed determined to get a “test case.”

 

“I don’t want a beer drinkers club opening up down the street without regulation. Fortunately they do have regulation; it’s called a liquor license,” Francisco said. “We as an association don’t object to reasonable regulation.”

 

Dagit’s arrest could cause backlash against medical marijuana, but Francisco feels that a visible solution would be clear regulation on medical marijuana.

 

Mike Meno, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which sponsored the 2008 medical marijuana ballot drive, said that Michigan’s law was purposefully silent on medical marijuana distribution. Under the administration of George W. Bush, the federal Justice Department was vigilant about cracking down on medical marijuana for violating federal law. The administration of Barack Obama is doing the opposite, which is why states like Colorado and Rhode Island are beginning to pass legislation regulating dispensaries.

 

“There’s a lot of the confusion resulting from the fact that Michigan’s law doesn’t speak to dispensaries,” Meno said. “Without that clarity, local law enforcement is interpreting the law differently from county to county or city to city. It sends a mixed message about what patients can and can’t do.”

 

Meno’s organization sees medical marijuana as a separate issue from ending marijuana prohibition — that is, the arrest and prosecution of marijuana users, buyers and sellers. So a case like Dagit’s has the potential to damage the public’s perception of medical marijuana, though it’s still a mostly popular measure.

 

“We don’t want these laws to be a mockery,” Meno said. “These are laws that are passed for sick people, not for everyone.”

[jon165]

So what's the deal? Is Green Leaf still open? Their website doesn't work anymore.

[ninjastryder]

to Jon165:

Yes, the club is open for business. They are not letting anyone smoke in there anymore. You may go in and get meds but that's it. An employee at "greenleaf" stated Dagit ran the website. Since he's in jail, it's not going to get maintained. From talking to these guys, some of them were against Dagit's way of "rocking the boat" with the medical marijuana cause. They said that is going to change. They want to run a business for patients and not use the greenleaf university for a platform.

[AnnieBell]

Mid-Michigan medical marijuana case hearing delayed

MASON -- The preliminary hearing for a Meridian Township man accused of illegally dealing marijuana while running a medical marijuana club has been delayed until July 8.

 

 

Prosecutors sought the delay for Frederick Wayne Dagit this morning because of a court scheduling conflict; his attorneys did not object. The hearing, which is to determine if there is enough evidence for the case to advance to trial, had been scheduled to begin today in 55th District Court.

 

 

Dagit, 60, is charged with delivery or manufacture of more than 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of marijuana, which carries up to a 15-year prison sentence. He also is charged with two counts of delivery or manufacture of 5 to 45 kilograms (11 to 99 pounds) of marijuana, a seven-year felony, as well as possession of marijuana and maintaining a drug house at his home in Meridian Township.

 

 

Dagit was arrested May 26 following police raids at his home and the Green Leaf Smokers Club in Williamstown Township.

 

 

An ordained minister, Dagit said he opened the club on Grand River Road in February as a haven for patients to buy medicinal marijuana from caregivers and socialize. He said he allowed caregivers to grow marijuana at the club for their patients.

 

 

Authorities say the law allows medicinal marijuana patients to grow up to 12 marijuana plants and have 2.5 ounces of marijuana for themselves, or a caregiver to grow up to 12 plants for up to five patients each. Authorities say they seized more than 100 pounds of "recently delivered" marijuana at the club and at Dagit's home, which is more than the limits allowed by law.

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100624/NEWS01/306240006/0/newshome

 

 

The preliminary hearing for a medical marijuana club owner was delayed Thursday to allow another case involving custody of his 15-year-old son to proceed.

 

Frederick Wayne Dagit, 60, of Meridian Township was before Ingham County Circuit Judge Laura Baird in Lansing for a pretrial hearing on the custody issue Thursday at the same time his preliminary examination was set before 55th District Judge Donald Allen Jr. in Mason.

 

Authorities placed the teen in foster care after police raided Dagit's home May 26. Authorities contend it was an unfit home for the teen because they found 40 marijuana plants growing in the home, 3 ounces of processed marijuana - some of which was easily accessible by the teen - and an unspecified amount of other marijuana.

 

The same day, police also raided the Green Leaf Smokers Club - the Williamstown Township medical marijuana club operated by Dagit. Authorities say they seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana at both sites.

 

The teen was placed in foster care immediately after Dagit's arrest.

 

Dagit was placed in jail on a $500,000 bond. According to court documents, the teen's biological mother cannot be found.

 

Baird ultimately will decide whether to officially place the teen in foster care on a temporary basis. The state Department of Human Services is currently not seeking to terminate Dagit's parental rights.

 

Allen rescheduled Dagit's preliminary examination for July 8. Dagit is charged with delivery or manufacture of more than 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of marijuana, which carries up to a 15-year prison sentence. He also is charged with two counts of delivery or manufacture of 5 to 45 kilograms (11 to 99 pounds) of marijuana, a seven-year felony, as well as possession of marijuana and maintaining a drug house at his home.

 

Authorities say the law allows medicinal marijuana patients to grow up to 12 marijuana plants and have 2.5 ounces of marijuana for themselves, or a caregiver to grow up to 12 plants for up to five patients each.

 

An ordained minister, Dagit said he opened the club on Grand River Road in February as a haven for patients to buy medicinal marijuana from caregivers and socialize.