Jacob Bell
New Member
An uncontested court order has officially ended the Muskegon Township chapter of the area's busiest medical-marijuana dispensary's story.
A new destination, if any, isn't clear.
Without opposition, Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks last week signed a permanent injunction barring the Greater Michigan Compassion Club from reopening its dispensary in Muskegon Township.
The injunction made permanent Hicks's Sept. 2 temporary restraining order that shut down the controversial club, which had operated at 2116 E. Apple for nearly a year.
The court orders came in a lawsuit the township brought last summer to shut down the club as an alleged public nuisance. The Sept. 2 order followed a landmark Michigan Court of Appeals decision declaring marijuana dispensaries illegal under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.
The club chose to stop fighting the township's lawsuit after last month's closing. "We arrived at a point where we had to just say enough," Executive Director Derek Antol said in a statement. "Months before initiation of the lawsuit, we had agreed that more space was needed to facilitate the demands of club members wanting to host more educational functions, such as growing classes, cooking classes and benefits for sick patients."
Club leaders have been hoping to buy and reopen in a building in the city of Muskegon at 885 E. Apple, Antol said, operating a retail shop and the club. The building has a drive-through that club officials hope to use to dispense medical marijuana to patients, similar to pharmacy drive-throughs.
But city officials are unlikely to approve a zoning variance allowing the club to operate, making its future uncertain.
An August appeals-court ruling in an Isabella County case, binding on lower courts statewide, led to the closure of medical-marijuana dispensaries across the state. That ruling in the Compassionate Apothecary case has been appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Antol maintains that marijuana sales at the Greater Michigan Compassion Club were legal even under the Court of Appeals ruling, which declared all "patient to patient" sales illegal. But, Antol says, sales at the Greater Michigan Compassion Club have always been by caretakers, not patients.
The state's voter-approved medical-marijuana law allows for one caregiver to provide marijuana for up to five patients, with each patient eligible to have 12 plants. Patients can pay "compensation" to their caregivers for growing the marijuana and buying the equipment to do so.
The Mount Pleasant dispensary in the Compassionate Apothecary case, like the Greater Michigan Compassion Club, didn't directly sell marijuana but did allow sales on the premises between members, with the club collecting a fee on each sale.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: mlive.com
Author: John S. Hausman
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Michigan Live LLC.
Website: Medical-marijuana Greater Michigan Compassion Club's Muskegon Township experience ends
A new destination, if any, isn't clear.
Without opposition, Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks last week signed a permanent injunction barring the Greater Michigan Compassion Club from reopening its dispensary in Muskegon Township.
The injunction made permanent Hicks's Sept. 2 temporary restraining order that shut down the controversial club, which had operated at 2116 E. Apple for nearly a year.
The court orders came in a lawsuit the township brought last summer to shut down the club as an alleged public nuisance. The Sept. 2 order followed a landmark Michigan Court of Appeals decision declaring marijuana dispensaries illegal under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.
The club chose to stop fighting the township's lawsuit after last month's closing. "We arrived at a point where we had to just say enough," Executive Director Derek Antol said in a statement. "Months before initiation of the lawsuit, we had agreed that more space was needed to facilitate the demands of club members wanting to host more educational functions, such as growing classes, cooking classes and benefits for sick patients."
Club leaders have been hoping to buy and reopen in a building in the city of Muskegon at 885 E. Apple, Antol said, operating a retail shop and the club. The building has a drive-through that club officials hope to use to dispense medical marijuana to patients, similar to pharmacy drive-throughs.
But city officials are unlikely to approve a zoning variance allowing the club to operate, making its future uncertain.
An August appeals-court ruling in an Isabella County case, binding on lower courts statewide, led to the closure of medical-marijuana dispensaries across the state. That ruling in the Compassionate Apothecary case has been appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Antol maintains that marijuana sales at the Greater Michigan Compassion Club were legal even under the Court of Appeals ruling, which declared all "patient to patient" sales illegal. But, Antol says, sales at the Greater Michigan Compassion Club have always been by caretakers, not patients.
The state's voter-approved medical-marijuana law allows for one caregiver to provide marijuana for up to five patients, with each patient eligible to have 12 plants. Patients can pay "compensation" to their caregivers for growing the marijuana and buying the equipment to do so.
The Mount Pleasant dispensary in the Compassionate Apothecary case, like the Greater Michigan Compassion Club, didn't directly sell marijuana but did allow sales on the premises between members, with the club collecting a fee on each sale.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: mlive.com
Author: John S. Hausman
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Michigan Live LLC.
Website: Medical-marijuana Greater Michigan Compassion Club's Muskegon Township experience ends
