Drug Charges Reinstated For Medical Marijuana Clinic Workers
FERNDALE (WWJ) - It's back to court for multiple people involved in a medical marijuana clinic raid in 2010.
Barbara Argo, 70, and the others are being brought back to the State Court of Appeals after drug charges were reinstated.
Argo and at least 15 other people were arrested in a raid of Clinical Relief Dispensary, located in Ferndale.
The dispensary opened in June of 2010 and was raided by authorities of August that same year.
Charges against Argo and the others were initially dropped by a lower court until the State Court of Appeals revived them.
Prosecutors say that the law does not allow for setting up dispensaries to sell marijuana.
Royal Oak Attorney Jim Rasor, who represents the clinic owners, told WWJ's Sandra McNeill and said his clients acted within state law.
"These are people that sent their credentials with the doctor's certification to the state of Michigan and received a license to be Michigan medical marijuana patients or caregivers," Rasor said. "Generally, criminals don't get licensed by the state."
In November of 2008, 63 percent of voters approved a state proposal to remove criminal penalization for those possessing marijuana based on the use for medical purposes.
The current Michigan law allows patients with diseases and conditions such as cancer, Crohn's disease, glaucoma and hepatitis C to use and possess the drug without state-level repercussions.
Rasor said he was confused about why patients are being penalized.
"I don't understand—and I think you'd have to ask the sheriff and the prosecutor why it's so important—that these people with cancer and other sorts of terrible medical conditions get thrown on the ground at gunpoint," Rasor said. "When people that are dealing crystal meth and other extremely destructive and illegal drugs are going Scott-free."
