As reported out of Michigan, fifteen people were arrested as part of a sting on medical marijuana clinics authorities believed were operating outside the legal limits for Michigan’s state medical marijuana law.
“This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Thursday at a news conference.
The three clinic raided were Everybody’s Café in Waterford, Clinical Relief in Ferndale and Herbal Remedies, also in Waterford.
The sting was conducted Wednesday and included three business and twelve homes. $750,000 worth of marijuana and two alligators were among the items confiscated by police during the raids. The two alligators were used to guard the largest inventory of marijuana, according to Bouchard.
Many people are upset at the tactics used by the arresting officers, busting into homes and business, ordering everyone to the ground and holding them at gun point.
When the raid began at Clinical Relief, Barbara Agro said masked police with rifles burst in as the 69-year-old manager was signing in patients.
“They came in with guns drawn,” she said. “They put us in handcuffs and started tearing the place apart.”
According to reports, police took HIPAA-protected documents, all patient files and TVs from the clinic.
“What we do is legal,” said Ryan Richmond, co-owner of Clinical Relief. “What they did with those raids was illegal.”
https://www.freep.com/article/20100827/NEWS03/8270343/1322/15-arrested-in-Oakland-sheriffs-pot-raids
