Politics & Government

Medical Marijuana Activists to Protest as Chesterfield, State Try to Close Big Daddy's

Supporters of medical marijuana are scheduled to protest from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday in front of Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens while a hearing for the Chesterfield Township case to shut down Big Daddy's Hydroponics takes place that day.

Medical marijuana supporters are scheduled to protest outside Macomb County Circuit Court Thursday in Mount Clemens as Chesterfield Township and the state .

The protest will be held from noon to 3 p.m., while an evidentiary hearing before Judge John Foster is slated for 1:30 p.m. between the parties in court.

Chesterfield Township, Police Chief Bruce Smith and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette are fighting to close Big Daddy's, which operates a medical marijuana dispensary on Gratiot north of 23 Mile in the township. The defendants named in the lawsuit are Big Daddy's Management Group LLC, owners Rick and Sue Ferris and landlord Pasquale Acciavatti. Big Daddy's has been accused of violating zoning ordinances and being a public nuisance.

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The protest is sponsored by the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers and will feature members of the Macomb/Oakland Compassion Club, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, local representatives of Americans for Safe Access and attorneys representing cannabis patients and businesses from across the state.

“If the distribution model is struck down, it would signal a close to some of the remaining 100 distribution centers still servicing the sick and injured statewide,”  Rick Thompson, Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine editor and Big Daddy’s board member, said in a prepared statement. “If it wasn’t hugely important, the A.G. would have just filed a brief--instead he chose to intervene.”

Find out what's happening in New Baltimore-Chesterfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The case also reflects how communities vary on their stances with medical marijuana dispensaries since the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was approved by voters on Nov. 4, 2008.

When announcing his involvement in the township case, Schuette said, "Across Michigan, our communities are struggling with an invasion of pot shops near their schools, homes and churches. Local governments have the right to protect their communities from illegal marijuana dispensaries."

In a on this issue, 92 percent of 330 voters believed that medical marijuana dispensaries should be allowed to operate in Michigan communities. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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