DEA Hits Michigan Again: Two Caregivers Raided, Charged

0

Photo: Addiction Inbox

​Two Michigan men face federal marijuana charges in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, but the lawyer for one of the defendants said the men were in compliance with the state’s Medical Marihuana Act.

The number of plants seized was within state law because of the number of caregivers who were growing at the location, according to the lawyer, Bob Baldori, reports Andy Balaskovitz at Lansing City Pulse.
Randall Darling, 24, and Joseph Johnson, also in his 20s, each face counts of growing more than 100 marijuana plants, according to court documents.
The federal cultivation charges come with a five-year minimum prison sentence. Warrants were issued for Darling and Johnson on January 20. Both await pretrial hearings.
Both defendants were within the state’s medical marijuana law, according to Baldori, who represents Johnson. While the DEA confiscated more than 200 plants from a grow operation in Mason, Baldori said Johnson and Darling are both patients and caregivers with the maximum allowed five patients.

Under Michigan law, each can grow up to 72 plants and possess 15 ounces of usable cannabis. Other caregivers were also using the house as a growing site, according to Baldori.
“These kids have not broken any Michigan laws,” Baldori said. “There were enough patients and caregivers to justify the plants.”
Attempts to reach Darling’s attorney, Jack Vogl, were unsuccessful, according to City Pulse.
Special Agent Rich Isaacson, spokesman from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s offices in Detroit, confirmed that the DEA is involved with the investigation, would would not give details.
Share.