State of Michigan v. McQueen, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling that yesterday declared patient-to-patient sales of marijuana at a Mt. Pleasant medical marijuana dispensary were a public nuisance, could have a far-reaching effect.
The Lansing State Journal reports this morning that many of Lansing’s medical marijuana dispensaries were closed yesterday in the wake of the COA’s ruling.
And from The Detroit Free Press:
Rick Thompson, editor-in-chief of Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine, said the ruling effectively shuts down the state’s 400 to 500 dispensaries, which allow sales in a safe place between people who trust one another, rather than on the streets between strangers.
“Other than a place like this, people would have to go back into neighborhoods,” he said Wednesday at his office in Big Daddy’s Management Group in Oak Park. Big Daddy’s serves about 3,500 certified patients in five locations, including about 100 low-income patients who pay nothing to Big Daddy’s for their marijuana.
Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette praised the ruling in a press release and said he’ll coach Michigan’s 83 prosecutors on how to use the ruling to shut down dispensaries:
“This ruling is a huge victory for public safety and Michigan communities struggling with an invasion of pot shops near their schools, homes and churches,” said Schuette.
“Today the Court echoed the concerns of law enforcement, clarifying that this law is narrowly focused to help the seriously ill, not the creation of a marijuana free-for-all.”
Schuette will send a letter to Michigan’s 83 county prosecutors explaining that the ruling clearly empowers them to close dispensaries and provide instructions on how to file similar nuisance actions to close dispensaries in their own counties.
Stand by for an appeal.
The Michigan Lawyer 