Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jul 2014
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2014 The Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579
Author: Michael P. McConnell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAREGIVERS WANT TO OPEN SHOP IN FERNDALE

A group of medical marijuana caregivers wants to open up a shop to
dispense marijuana to their patients in Ferndale at a former party
store on East Nine Mile.

The company, called Meridian Wellness, is seeking approval to operate
from the Ferndale City Council on Monday.

"We're going to see on Monday what the requirements are for the
facility and that the applicant has met them," said Mayor Dave
Coulter. "Ferndale supports the concept of medical marijuana and
supports facilities like this if they are operating legally."

The city's Planning Commission has approved Meridian Wellness' site
plan, which is to be located at 1915 E. Nine Mile Road several blocks
west of Interstate 75.

Derek Delacourt, head of Ferndale's Community and Economic Development
department, told Planning Commission members last month that the
company will allow no marijuana use at the facility.

In a memo to City Council members Delacourt said city staff members
are satisfied the proposed operation meets the requirements of city
ordinances and state law.

The company would have three registered medical marijuana caregivers
dispensing marijuana to a total of 15 patients.

Ferndale Police Chief Timothy Collins said Friday he has no opinion
about whether having the company open a facility in Ferndale is a good
idea or not.

"They have found a way to use the law and not be a dispensary," he
said. "They are like a safety deposit company for caregivers. They
rent space for a caregiver to dispense medical marijuana to their patients."

Plans that the company's members submitted to the city show they will
have separate safes for the caregivers to store medical marijuana for
patients. Each caregiver would have five separate locked safes for
each patient, according to paperwork the applicants filed with the
city.

"You can't have a dispensary," under state law, Collins said. "If you
are a caregiver you can have up to five patients and that's it."

A marijuana dispensary, Clinical Relief, opened in Ferndale in the
summer of 2010. Oakland County Sheriff's narcotics agents raided
Clinical Relief in August 2010 and arrested seven people on marijuana
charges. Their case was dismissed in Oakland County Circuit Court, but
county prosecutors had the dismissal overturned by the Michigan Court
of Appeals last September, opening the door for another criminal trial.

However, Southfield attorney Neil Rockind, who represents one of the
owners of Clinical Relief, said Friday the defendants are first
appealing their case to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Adam Applebaum, CEO of Meridian Wellness, is also an owner of Dirty
Decks, a Livonia deck cleaning and restoration business, according to
his Linkedin page.

He told city planning officials last month the medical marijuana
facility will have cameras, locks and safes and no one would be
allowed at the Ferndale location without an appointment, according to
city documents from the meeting.

One Planning Commission member at the meeting said a resident was
worried about drugs or robberies in the neighborhood near the proposed
site for the medical marijuana facility. Collins, records show, said
no matter how good the operators' plan is, that is one thing they
can't control.

Still, Collins added that the operators have been open and honest and
will give police access to the facility.

"The Planning Commission is giving a recommendation for the medical
marijuana facility," Coulter said. "It's a complicated issue because
there haven't been clear guidelines and direction in the past for what
is required of these facilities."

The City Council meets to vote on the issue at 7 p.m. Monday.
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MAP posted-by: Matt