Blackman Township, Mi – The Recent Raid

[maxmax]

BLACKMAN TOWNSHIP, MI – The recent raid of a medical marijuana dispensary was the first in the Jackson area since a Michigan Supreme Court ruling gave local authorities the ability to shut dispensaries down.

 

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, members of law enforcement including the Jackson Narcotics Enforcement Team raided Kaya Provision Center, located at 740 Laurence Ave.

 

Lt. Dave Cook of JNET said an undercover agent was sent to the medical marijuana dispensary to purchase the drug. That person was not a patient at Kaya, police said.

 

According to the Feb. 8 Michigan Supreme Court ruling, caregivers can only sell to their specific patients. It also gave county prosecutors the ability to shut down dispensaries as public health nuisances.

 

Cook said because Kaya sold to someone who was not a member, law enforcement was able to obtain and execute a search warrant in the raid last week.

 

Cook said this led to another search warrant to a residence on Moscow Road, which had a “substantial grow operation.” He added that several people would be charged as a result of the raid, but did not know the specific charges.

 

Attempts to contact the owners of Kaya Provision Center were not successful. However, in a Feb. 20 post on the Kaya Provision Center’s Facebook page, it was stated that the business was closed for unforeseen reasons and in the comments confirmed the provision center had been raided.

 

Controversy followed Kaya Provision Center when the dispensary opened in June of last year next door to ABC Daycare. Parents complained to the Blackman Township Board however then-supervisor Dan Hawkins, though sympathetic, said there was “no indication of serious problems related to medical marijuana dispensaries in the township.”

 

Over the weekend the Jackson County Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka sent letters to county dispensaries, ordering them to cease and desist operation. As of Monday, Feb. 25, anyone operating a medical marijuana dispensary could be prosecuted.

 

Cook said so far the raid on Kaya was the first JNET has done since the Supreme Court ruling, however it has not been the first of this kind. In 2011, law enforcement raided Hydroworld in Jackson and in Lansing on similar accusations after several months of investigation.

[SFC]

It sucks that it happened but I gotta say I am amazed that the drug units are not just attacking like rabid dogs. THEY ALL GOT WARNING LETTERS! We really have come a long way......"As of Monday, Feb. 25, anyone operating a medical marijuana dispensary could be prosecuted." Now call me crazy, but there was nothing stopping them prior to Feb 25th.

[Kingdiamond]

It sucks that it happened but I gotta say I am amazed that the drug units are not just attacking like rabid dogs. THEY ALL GOT WARNING LETTERS!

 

Give it time its coming im sure.

[SFC]

I don't doubt that KD. But if you would have asked any of us two or even four years ago if we thought the county prosecutors would have just sent out warning letters first to give them a chance to comply and shut down we would all have said BS.

[Kingdiamond]

Yes someone had big balls that got them in trouble in the end i get anything like that in my mailbox im flipping the lights off heres to hoping they provided enough meds to cover a good lawyer in the week after they were warned .

[SFC]

i get anything like that in my mailbox im flipping the lights off

You got that right brother!

[TheHarvester]

It makes one wonder if the rumors are true and they are doing big sweeps on 3/1.

[Kingdiamond]

It makes one wonder if the rumors are true and they are doing big sweeps on 3/1.

 

What rumors ??

[maxmax]

JACKSON, MI – Medical marijuana dispensary owners were forced to close their doors this weekend after receiving a cease and desist letter from the Jackson County prosecutor.

 

Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka sent letters to the 18 county locations that dispense medical marijuana on Friday. In that letter he states the recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling banning patient-to-patient sales.

 

“If the police bring me a case of a dispensary operating in violation, then this office will prosecute,” Jarzynka said. “I advised them in a letter they have to comply with the law and to cease and desist immediately."

 

There are 18 dispensaries that Jarzynka is aware of. Ten in Blackman Township, five in the city of Jackson, two in Leoni Township and one in Henrietta Township.

 

Jarzynka is not sure how other counties are approaching the ruling, but said he has a duty to follow the law.

 

“It’s my obligation to enforce the law and it’s pretty clear this decision clarifies the Michigan medical marijuana act.”

 

Todd Pickett, the owner of Sweet Greens and the S.G. Health and Wellness Center in Leoni Township, shut down Friday Feb. 22. He said he did not receive a letter from the prosecutor but saw a copy of another business owner’s letter in an email.

 

“There is no medicine in the store anymore,” Pickett said Monday morning.

 

Pickett, opened his shop a little over three years ago and said he is going to wait it out and see what happens with new legislation.

 

Under this legislation, state and local government could offer immunity to medical marijuana patients.

 

“We are waiting for this new bill to be passed, we’re hoping it passes really quickly and we will open back up. We never really looked at ourselves as a dispensary, we opened up as an educational service,” Pickett said.

 

 

This one LOL

[maxmax]

The mail must of went out Friday but no mail was delivered on a Saturday

[pic book]

 

Todd Pickett, the owner, "We opened up as an educational service,” Pickett said.

Explain?

[phaquetoo]

Explain?

 

Let me try even though i know nothing of them!

 

They were selling over priced mm to see if it worked for your ailment, and if it didnt they wanted you to come back and try another strain, than another, and another, they make cash and help you find your strain, that they realy wont have again unless they get lucky, sound about right?

 

Peace

Jim

[peanutbutter]

It sucks that it happened but I gotta say I am amazed that the drug units are not just attacking like rabid dogs. THEY ALL GOT WARNING LETTERS! We really have come a long way......"As of Monday, Feb. 25, anyone operating a medical marijuana dispensary could be prosecuted." Now call me crazy, but there was nothing stopping them prior to Feb 25th.

 

It's like they were surprised to hear they were not legal .. shhhhh ..

[maxmax]

 

Explain?

 

Pickett, opened his shop a little over three years ago and said he is going to wait it out and see what happens with new legislation.

[CaveatLector]

Let me try even though i know nothing of them!

 

They were selling over priced mm to see if it worked for your ailment, and if it didnt they wanted you to come back and try another strain, than another, and another, they make cash and help you find your strain, that they realy wont have again unless they get lucky, sound about right?

 

Peace

Jim

That's funny. Any chance if you tried ALL of their strains that maybe they all-of-a-sudden remember that they have a jar in the back room of something "different?"

[maxmax]

 

 

Let me try even though i know nothing of them!

 

They were selling over priced mm to see if it worked for your ailment, and if it didnt they wanted you to come back and try another strain, than another, and another, they make cash and help you find your strain, that they realy wont have again unless they get lucky, sound about right?

 

Peace

Jim

 

You mean something like

The first OZ free and then the next OZ will be $ more

[maxmax]

 

 

It's like they were surprised to hear they were not legal .. shhhhh ..

 

“There is no medicine in the store anymore,” Pickett said Monday morning

Then why raid him ?

[pic book]

 

 

Let me try even though i know nothing of them!

 

They were selling over priced mm to see if it worked for your ailment, and if it didnt they wanted you to come back and try another strain, than another, and another, they make cash and help you find your strain, that they realy wont have again unless they get lucky, sound about right?

 

Peace

Jim

jim you are too dang funny

[CaveatLector]

“There is no medicine in the store anymore,” Pickett said Monday morning

Then why raid him ?

Why raid anyone? If the police send in a mole and find out you are illegally selling guns they should just ask you if you are still doing it before they raid you, right? Maybe someone could start a website that is a clearinghouse of info where we can make press releases that announce we are no longer engaging in illegal activity that we once engaged in. That way the cops can just check the clearinghouse before they raid you.

[+Malamute]

If they have evidence, they will raid.

[shishka]

Let me try even though i know nothing of them!

 

They were selling over priced mm to see if it worked for your ailment, and if it didnt they wanted you to come back and try another strain, than another, and another, they make cash and help you find your strain, that they realy wont have again unless they get lucky, sound about right?

 

Peace

Jim

 

Overpriced? I guess it depends on who you ask. Todd capped grams at 12 dollars. Pretty competitive to what caregivers were asking at the Jackson farmers market. Jackson folks don't have money like A2 folk and he acknowledged that.

 

Overpriced? You could travel down I-94 for thirty minutes into A2 and find the SAME meds going for 25 a gram.

 

All in all I think Todd gave people a fair product at a fair price.

 

So Jim, I suppose caregivers get the strain choice right on the first try? Or do they say here, try this one and then try this one?

Edited February 26, 2013 by shishka

[+Malamute]

How about just having multiple caregivers to choose from?

 

A single CG need not be all to every possible patient. It is about connecting patients to the right caregivers, and the caregivers to the right patients. And since for the most part Caregivers= Patients, it is merely about connecting the right patients to the right patients.

 

It is simple to switch if needed and finding the perfect or acceptable connection is very achievable.

[shishka]

How about just having multiple caregivers to choose from?

 

A single CG need not be all to every possible patient. It is about connecting patients to the right caregivers, and the caregivers to the right patients. And since for the most part Caregivers= Patients, it is merely about connecting the right patients to the right patients.

 

It is simple to switch if needed and finding the perfect or acceptable connection is very achievable.

 

If only there was some sort of place that could facilitate these meetings between patients and caregivers.

[Restorium2]

If only there was some sort of place that could facilitate these meetings between patients and caregivers.

I just watched Jeremy at G3C on the local news telling about how he provides a place for caregivers to meet patients. He specifically said that it was for caregivers to service 5 patients. It was a good piece.

[OG Fire Beaster]

You mean like a place that would help facilitate transfers outside of the current Pt/Cg model?