| Photo: Church For Compassionate Care |
| Rev. Wayne Dagit: “I’m not serving pot, I’m serving the Lord” |
The Tri-County Metro Narcotics Squad raided a marijuana smokers club outside Williamston, Michigan on Wednesday, but law enforcement officials are playing shut-mouth about exactly what happened there.
“They treated us like criminals, forced us to the ground, even though I have to walk with a cane,” said patient Terry Clark, 48, who said he suffers from arthritis, seizures and chronic pain.
Clark and the one other customer in the club at the time eventually were asked to show their state-issued medical marijuana cards, which they did, according to Clark. They were then allowed to leave.
The raid occurred at the Green Leaf Smokers Club, a private club opened in February, confirmed Lt. Tim Gill of the Narcotics Squad. Gill referred further questions to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, reports Matthew Miller of Lansing State Journal.
| African American Parade |
| Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III |
Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III (what a perfect name for a prosecutor!) refused to say why the club had been raided, or what officers found when the busted into the place.
“We don’t discuss matters that are under investigation,” Dunnings sniffed, adding that “anything subsequent to the search warrant, I don’t know definitively until I receive the police reports.”
Medical marijuana users who obtain authorization from a doctor and the state of Michigan can grow marijuana for themselves, or the state can authorize another individual to grow it for them.
However, the exact legal status of marijuana-related businesses is still a gray area in state law.
Several Michigan cities, including Lansing, are discussing how to regulate marijuana dispensaries.
| Ingham County Sheriff’s Dept. |
| Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth: “This has to do with getting high” |
But the Green Leaf does not dispense marijuana. It is instead a place where certified medical users can come together socially to use cannabis together, as long as they bring their own pot.
Rev. Wayne Dagit, Green Leaf owner who founded the club in February, said his main goal is to create a casual atmosphere in which users can bring their own cannabis, medicate with others and form new relationships.
Earlier this year, Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth, who apparently isn’t very damn cool, called the club “a joke.”
“This is exactly what law enforcement said would happen when they passed the [medical marijuana ballot measure],” Wriggelsworth whined in February.
“This has nothing to do with medicinal marijuana,” said the Sheriff, who seems to have somehow miraculously become a medical expert as well. “This has to do with getting high.”
Sheriff Wriggelsworth, telephone (517) 676-8205, would not comment Wednesday on the Green Leaf raid.
Rev. Dagit could not immediately be reached for comment either.