Big Daddy's Owner Says Business is Unfairly Targeted

As Big Daddy's Hydroponics to fend off another attempt from the Michigan Attorney General to close the Chesterfield business, its owner says the business is being unfairly targeted.

Rick Ferris, also known as Big Daddy, said that Atty. Gen. Bill Schuette's allegation that the compassion center violated the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act is unfounded.

"He’s not slowed down since he got in office; he's not going to stop now," Ferris said. "We are definitely targeted. This is a civil matter. For him to jump in a civil matter, this is ridiculous."

Schuette and Chesterfield Township have united in attempt to shut down Big Daddy's, . Macomb County Circuit Court Judge John Foster initially . But, his with limited medical marijuana sales under the law.

“He says that, under his order to us, we could do anything as long as it was allowed under the act and what we do is under the act," Ferris said of the judge.

The show-cause hearing Monday in circuit court will center on an undercover officer posing as a medical marijuana patient. The officer bought pot at the facility on Jan. 25 from a reported caregiver, although she was not listed on his card, according to a Feb. 6 report in The Macomb Daily.

Schuette wants Foster "to order the occupants vacate the property; the business be padlocked for a period of one year; the illegal contraband destroyed pursuant to law; and all contents of the premises be removed and sold," the article states. He also wants Big Daddy's to be penalized a $7,500 fine or serve 93 days in jail.

Ferris told Patch this week that the compassion center at the business now just gives caregivers and card-carrying patients a place to go, but that he doesn't employ people to sell medical marijuana.

“I don’t hire caregivers; we don’t have caregivers," he said. "If they're not a patient or a caregiver, they’re not allowed in the compassion part of the facility. We sell equipment to the caregiver.”

He said Big Daddy's follows the medical marijuana act restrictions.

"The only person you can get it from is a caregiver,” he said of medical marijuana. “I’m not a caregiver. The person working behind the desk is not a caregiver."

After the , Ferris said Big Daddy's asked for specific guidelines from Schuette.

"We asked the attorney general to sit down and explain to us what is allowed under the act," he said, adding the request was unfulfilled. "We’re not drug dealers; we don’t want to be classified as drug dealers.”

The township also has pending litigation against the business, citing it . Per policy on pending lawsuits, Chesterfield officials declined to comment on this case.

Referring to a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling, Schuette's office has stated that the "MMMA doesn't authorize marijuana dispensaries and the courts can infer that a dispensary's purpose is not to alleviate a debilitating medical condition."