According to state courts, Michigan medical marijuana laws technically don’t allow for edibles made from concentrated cannabis, which includes infused butter. It’s a stupid loophole that any medical marijuana advocate should be closed, but in the meantime cops and courts are still using it to hang patients and caregivers out to dry.
Tim Scherzer pleaded guilty last moth to “maintaining a drug house” and was sentenced to five years of probation and given a $10,000 fine for that charge as well as delivery of marijuana. His wife, Alyssa, pleaded guilty to the drug house charge as well, and was given three years probation and a $5,000 fine.
The two were arrested after they allegedly had pot mailed to them through the U.S. Postal Service. Post Office officials tipped off cops and the cops raided the Scherzer home. While the mailing of the pot is a questionable move given the federal illegality of it all, the cops seemed more interested in what the Scherzers where doing with the herb. Namely: making brownies.
Oh, and those brownies were going to corrections officers that happened to be medical patients that had designated the Scherzers as caregivers. Once cops figured that out, they went and arrested the jail guards.
All this over brownies. Specifically, brownies made with infused butter – a substance that is standard and commonplace in just about every other medical cannabis state in the nation.
The judge in the case, County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Leiber, didn’t hand down any jail time to the Scherzers, but opted for the heavy fines on both to set an example. Tim Scherzer is on disability payments, though, so the judge is really just fining taxpayers who are helping out a guy who can’t work due to his injury.
A bill that would have legalized edibles failed to gain support during last year’s session.