Last summer, we brought you the story about a  Michigan medical marijuana dispensary and clinic owner whose business was offering free medical marijuana to patients who registered to vote. Shekina Pena, the owner of Your Healthy Choice Clinic in Lansing, Michigan, got into legal trouble when her clinic  offered of a half of a gram of medical marijuana in exchange for registering.

The offer came right before  a vote for city council seats in Lansing where medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries are a hot button issue for city council. They had approved of capping the number of medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits and setting up a $1,000 annual application fee.

At the time, Pena told an NBC affiliate that she was just trying to fight to get the voters to the polls since Lansing has 4 to 5 thousand people in the area that are patients or caregivers. She said that it was her hope that those 4-5 thousand come to the polls and vote for whomever they felt was supporting the efforts for local access for medical marijuana. She said she is definitely encouraging her patients to support the city council members who are supporting the medical marijuana industry.

But then the state’s attorney general, at the prodding of a state senator, said that maybe Pena had crossed the line into criminal territory, trying to “buy votes”. She was charged with violating Michigan election law and charged with a misdemeanor count of trying to influence voters with a “valuable consideration”  - not money in this case, but with the ½ gram of marijuana. She could have received a penalty of 90 days in jail, and a $500 fine.

However, this morning, a jury of her peers decided to acquit Ms. Pena of all charges. The 34 year old owner of Your Healthy Choice Clinic said she wasn’t influencing votes, and her attorney told media that the jury got it right.

The Attorney General Bill Schuette’s spokesperson, had another take on the verdict. He told the Lansing Journal that “something whacky” was going on at that dispensary and that they are looking at the verdict before they decide what to do next.

External Links:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-freemarijuana-vot,0,649852.story

(WXYZ) Lt. Luke Davis, Lt.. Emmanuel Riopelle and Monroe County resident Lawrence Dusseau face dozens of charges. Davis headed the undercover narcotics unit that operated out of a non-descript house in Monroe County. The indictment alleges he and the others sold off drugs and confiscated goods for their own profit.

The Action News Investigators have exclusive audio reportedly of the rogue cops caught on tape during a drug raid. The audio comes from a local man, Rudy Simpson, alleging heavy handed and unprofessional police tactics.  Simpson says he was a victim of these tactics in a drug raid on his home.

It all centers around State Police Lt. Davis, now facing corruption charges. In June of 2008, the OMNI Drug Task Force, headed by Davis, executed a search warrant on Simpson’s Monroe County home. They based the search on an anonymous tip and a marijuana stem they said they found in his garbage. When the cops came in, Rudy’s band was practicing in his basement recording studio.

What the police didn’t know is that the microphones were hot and everything was being recorded.

The recording captures one of the cops poorly singing “I Love Rock’n'Roll”.  Then they are discussing all the recording equipment and musical instruments in the studio and that they have found a “quarter ounce of weed in a baggie” for which they believe Lt. Luke Davis will tell them to “take everything”.  As it turned out, the cops took three pages worth of stuff, including a 52” flat screen TV, a DVD player, two computers, a camera and a bunch of DVDs, but not including $400 in cash and a gold ring that Rudy claims were also taken.

To add insult to injury, when Rudy was charged with possession of the quarter ounce of cannabis and half of a prescription pain pill, he produced the prescription he had for the pill.  Rudy had a pot charge from ten years prior, and the judge said if he didn’t accept the charge for the pain pill he was in legal possession of, he’d get charged as a habitual pot offender and be forced to take some prison time.

The taking by police of cannabis consumers’ property is hardly new.  Asset Forfeiture is a concept that allows the cops to seize the ill-gotten proceeds of drug transactions.  The idea was that if a “Tony Montana” bought a yacht with his cocaine smuggling money, the cops could seize and sell the yacht to both punish Tony and to garner funding for equipment and raids against future “Tony Montanas”.

But as happens all too often, the forfeiture laws are simply an excuse for cops to police for profit.  There was no evidence Rudy was ever selling weed.  In fact, if he’s like a lot of musicians I know, he bought the weed or it was given to him and the boys to toke while laying down new tracks.  But based on a stem and a convenient “anonymous tip”, a quarter ounce is enough justification for these cops to believe that thousands of dollars of electronics equipment must have been purchased from the proceeds of Rudy’s weed dealing.  In Michigan, the cops don’t even need to meet a beyond a reasonable doubt justification, only a probable cause one, a much lower hurdle to clear.  Furthermore, in forfeiture, Rudy doesn’t even have to be charged with a crime to lose his stuff.

This audio is just the latest development in a story that’s been brewing in Michigan since 2006:

(MLive.com) Lt. Luke Davis, 48, of Monroe and Lt. Emmanuel Riopelle, 42, of Grosse Ile are accused of running a scheme to systematically embezzle property and money seized from suspects between March 2006 and December 2008.

An MSP search of Davis’ home on Dec. 4, 2008 revealed stolen property, as well as vicodin, oxycontin, steroids, a wall covered with a large quantity of men’s and women’s jewelry, 30 designer purses, 22 cell phones, computers, televisions, motorcycles, and a golf cart, among other property.

That kicked off an investigation showing Davis developed a system of embezzling seized property from the OMNI unit he commanded, according to [State Police Director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue].

MSP policy requires seized property to be sold at public auction, put to official use, or destroyed. However, in March 2006, Davis with the help of Riopelle and Dusseau, began diverting some property for his own use or giving it away rather than selling it at auction, Etue said.

She also alleges Davis used Dusseau as a “straw buyer” at the auctions, falsifying receipts to show Dusseau purchased the property at auction. Then Dusseau would later sell the property to a third party and then split the profits with Davis, Etue said.

Remember, these are the biggest crooks and the ones who got sloppy enough to get caught.  Don’t think these kinds of operations aren’t happening everywhere in America.  Sometimes its a one-off thing, swiping some suspect’s cash, losing an ounce of weed between crime scene and booking evidence; why not, they’re just doper criminals anyway?  The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture corrupt cops – not all, not even most, but enough to destroy any confidence the cannabis community might have had in police integrity.

Here’s what Lt. Davis is facing – throw this guy in prison… for at least the ten years the system gave a single mother of four who sold $31 worth of weed to an undercover in Oklahoma.

–One count of Conducting Criminal Enterprises (Racketeering), a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine;

–Thirteen counts of Embezzlement by a Public Official, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison;

–Five counts of Misconduct in Office, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison;

–Three counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison;

–One count of Use Tax violation, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison; and

- One count of Forgery, a felony punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

 

LANSING, MICHIGAN — Marijuana Policy Project director of state policies Karen O’Keefe and Michigan patients will urge revisions to the Michigan Department of Community Health’s draft medical marijuana regulations at a hearing Jan. 5. O’Keefe and the patients will argue that the draft rules impose several new restrictions on patients that exceed the department’s authority under Proposal 1, the medical marijuana initiative passed by voters in November, and that some proposed rules would put patients at unnecessary risk.

Among the rules considered problematic are requirements that patients or caregivers submit written inventory reports of medical marijuana they grow, that all medical marijuana — not just plants — be kept in an enclosed, locked facility, and a definition of “public use” that would make it illegal for patients to use medical marijuana in their own homes with the curtains open.

“Nothing in Proposal 1 gives the department authority to require inventory records, and doing so would put patients at risk,” O’Keefe said. “None of the other medical marijuana states has such a rule, because as long as marijuana cultivation remains a federal crime, it would require patients to incriminate themselves in writing.”

“The requirement that all medical marijuana be kept in a locked, enclosed facility is stricter than any requirement imposed on prescription morphine, methamphetamine or OxyContin,” said patient Lynn Allen of Williamston. “The rule in Proposal 1 applies only to plants, and the department has no authority to expand it.”

“Still,” O’Keefe added, “we understand that this is just a draft, and we appreciate the effort the department is making to seek input and make adjustments based on what they hear from patients and others.” O’Keefe’s full, written comments on the rules are available here.

WHAT: MCDH hearing on proposed medical marijuana regulations.

WHO: MPP director of state policies Karen O’Keefe; patients Ken Shapiro (metastatic melanoma, East Lansing), Lynn Allen (AIDS/hepatitis C, Lansing) and Clint Winger (rheumatoid arthritis/degenerative disc disease, Coldwater), plus others as available.

WHEN: Jan. 5, 2009: 9 a.m.

WHERE: State Secondary Complex, General Office Building, 7150 Harris Drive, Conference Room A, Lansing.

Drug center worker hid evidence of failed tests — chicagotribune.com
LANSING, Mich. – A worker at a drug testing center admitted she accepted payments of cash or pot to conceal evidence of inmates’ and suspects’ failed drug tests.

Amanda Winter, 22, of Lansing pleaded guilty Wednesday in Grand Rapids federal court to public corruption. Winter worked at Insight Recovery Center, a federal contractor.

She admitted taking the payments from convicts and federal defendants to ignore positive preliminary urine tests.

The charge carries up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Under the plea deal, she agreed to cooperate with investigators, and the sentencing judge will be informed of her cooperation.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, the indictment said Winter took payments from people whose urine samples came up positive on preliminary drug tests in exchange for not reporting the tests. Because she did not report the positive tests, the samples were discarded rather than tested further.

Winter also warned some people that they were scheduled to be tested, the indictment said.

Drinking lots of water.  Taking creatine.  Adulterants.  Synthetic urine.  Abstinence.  I thought I’d heard of all the ways people use to beat a drug test, but bribing the drug tester, that’s one I hadn’t heard yet.

Once again, prohibition creates corruption.

Group that opposes medical marijuana will kick off ‘no’ campaign Thursday | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
LANSING — A proposal to legalize the cultivation and use of marijuana for medical purposes, which will be on the Nov. 4 ballot and has gone virtually unchallenged for more than a year, will have some organized opposition after all.

A coalition of medical, law enforcement and anti-drug organizations calling itself Citizens Protecting Michigan Kids has scheduled news conferences across lower Michigan for Thursday to kick off the campaign to encourage a “No” vote on Proposal 1.

A spokesman for the coalition said it will be led by Appeals Court Judge Bill Schuette and former Michigan Chamber of Commerce President James Barrett, and will include the Michigan State Medical Society, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association and the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.

Proposal 1 was placed on the ballot after supporters, including a nucleus from a national organization that has run similar campaigns all over the country, collected nearly a half million petition signatures. Until today’s announcement of the anti-Proposal 1 coalition, it had been subjected to some criticism from law enforcement officials but appeared likely to slide through until Election Day virtually unnoticed.

A Free Press poll released earlier this week indicated voters approve of the idea of legalizing pot for some medical conditions by a more than 2-1 margin.

Why, who could oppose the Milk for Kittens and Cute Babies Act Citizens Protecting Michigan Kids?  Hmmm, the CPMK.  Can we call them “Chipmunk”?

“What about the children” is the last refuge of the drug warrior who can’t convince you that either medical marijuana is fake or adult use is dangerous.  It’s quite an uphill battle for them to convince people that an adult with severe illness or disability, jumping through the hoops of medical certification and state registration to use marijuana medically, will somehow lead to more kids using marijuana, especially since the experience of the other twelve medical marijuana states have proven that’s not what happens, in fact, less kids use marijuana in those states than before they had medical marijuana.