Law Office of Bruce Leach

City of Springfield, Michigan Springfield Police Department Calhoun County Sheriffs Department Calhoun County Prosecutor David E. Gilbert

810-275-8899

CC: The Karmacy medical marijuana collective, Kiel Howland CEO

February 28, 2013

MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW UPDATE THE KARMACY MEDICAL COLLECTIVE BUSINESS PLAN Dear esteemed members of the city council of Springfield, the Springfield Police department, Calhoun County Sheriffs department, Calhoun County Prosecutor, and other local municipal offices; We are aware of the recent Supreme Court decision in State of Michigan v. McQueen and wanted to contact you directly to clarify some concerns and legal issues regarding the operation of dispensaries that provide safe access for medical marijuana patients. The will of the people has been clear on the issue of Medical Marijuana since day one of its initiation. The people of our great state are overwhelmingly in favor of medical marijuana and do not want to see individuals prosecuted under the Act that was created specifically for the purpose of protecting them from such prosecutions. We strongly believe that this issue presents an excellent opportunity to work in partnership with the City of Springfield to stand up and protect the interests of our local citizens, and to make Springfield a leader in compassion, education, and understanding when it comes to Medical Marijuana. We would like to address and clarify the recent Supreme Court decision in McQueen as to what it specifically does and does not opine. To begin, McQueen is a civil case against the Compassionate Apothecary of Mt. Pleasant dispensary by local authorities who tried to declare them to be a public nuisance under the public health code laws. The case was initially decided and ruled in favor of the dispensary, but was appealed by the Attorney Generals office to the Supreme Court in yet another attempt to frustrate the lives of medical marijuana patients in the State of Michigan. The whole situation brings to mind a few important questions such as Who are these medical patients and farmers hurting? Why such hatred for handicapped medical

4025 E. Hill Rd, Grand Blanc, MI 48439

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Law Office of Bruce Leach

810-275-8899

patients? Shouldnt medical patients be entitled to safe access for their medicine? The clear and glaring fact remains that the bulk of all marijuana related prosecutions in this State where cardholding medical patients are involved are almost entirely victimless crimes. The Supreme Court in McQueen states that the local authorities have the option to prosecute local dispensaries as a public nuisance and violative of the public health code only if they are participating in patient-to-patient transfers. The opinion of the Attorney General and the Supreme Court in McQueen is that patient to patient transfers are not civilly protected conduct under the Public Health Code law. Even though we agree entirely with the dissenting opinion by Justice Cavanaugh that patient to patient transfers would be permitted under the MMMA and also under Public Health Code Law, we agree that patient to patient transfers are no longer allowed within our facility. It is very important to note that none of the alleged conduct within McQueen would be criminally prosecutable under the MMMA and the affirmative defenses it affords in Sections 4 and 8. In fact, there is no discussion of criminal conduct within McQueen, other than the fact that he was actually immune to criminal charges under the Section 4 affirmative defense. It is simply a matter of local authorities deciding if a dispensary can be a public nuisance or not. We would also like to point out that while patient to patient transfers may not be protected under the Public Health Code, they are protected under the MMMA Section 8 affirmative defense from criminal prosecution. The distinction here is a very small loophole, in that McQueen deals with civil public health code matters, not criminal conduct, and the Section 8 affirmative defense under the MMMA only applies to criminal matters. Were McQueen a criminal case, the affirmative defense would stand and the charges would be required to be dismissed. It is the goal of The Karmacy to re-open now as a private medical collective to continue to provide safe access to medicine for all of our patient and caregiver members, while always remaining compliant with the MMMA and Michigan Law. We want to distinguish ourselves and our collective method of operation from the rest of the so-called retail dispensary operations. Here is an example of our proposed private medical collective business plan, so that we are all crystal clear that there will be absolutely no violations of the MMMA or State law as discussed in McQueen. As of today, February 28, 2013, The Karmacy dispensary has transitioned to The Karmacy medical collective and is re-opening as a non-profit, private membership organized as a medical collective, in order to provide safe access to medicine for all of our members. No patient-to-patient transfers will be allowed on the premises. No use of medicine will be permitted on the premises. The Karmacy will operate as a non-profit organization. No profits will be made by The Karmacy for providing a safe access facility where patients may acquire their medicine directly from their specific registered caregiver only.

4025 E. Hill Rd, Grand Blanc, MI 48439

www.bruceleachlaw.com

Law Office of Bruce Leach

810-275-8899

Within The Karmacy private medical collective, every member will be connected to his or her caregiver via an administered network. This will involve a membership application, potential change of caregiver forms, mandatory attendance to a legal 101 briefing on this collective structure and the protection it affords our members, and individual locker storage facilities for all members as needed to assist in the facilitation of caregiver-to-their-registeredpatient only transfers. These lockers will be accessible only by the caregiver and their five specific patients, and each locker would only be permitted to contain a maximum of 2.5OZ of usable marijuana at any time, as permitted under the MMMA. All members will be required to be tied in to the network as caregiver/patient and thereby legally protected as deemed necessary by The Karmacy network administrator. For example, when a new patient comes in to The Karmacy, they will be required to apply for membership prior to being admitted for service. Once admitted as a member, their caregiver rights will be assigned to a designated caregiver within the network in order to prevent any broken links in the chain. One caregiver may provide medicine to their five registered patients only, and each of those patients may in turn be a caregiver for their five additional patients, and so on. Once the appropriate paperwork has been completed and filed with the State, the patient may then access the Ordering room where samples of the available medicine will be displayed for them to make their selection. Once the medicine is ordered by the patient at least 24 hours in advance, The Karmacy will contact that patients specific designated caregiver to arrange for the legal safe transfer of their desired medicine to that patient through the use of a locker system inside the building. In this manner, only caregiver-to-their-registered-patient transactions will occur within the facility. It is our understanding of the law as stated in McQueen that as long as this model of caregiver-to-their-registered-patient transfer is adhered to, MMMA Section 4 immunity applies. It is important to note that the public nuisance claim as in McQueen only applies to patient-to-patient transfers, which we will not allow on the premises. It is our sincere hope that the members of the City Council will view this as an opportunity to work together with us in partnership for safe access for the medical patients residing in our community. Our focus always has been on safe access, education, scientific research, and compassion for seriously ill medical patients. We have always maintained an open line of communication with Springfield and all local authorities and we welcome your involvement in protecting the safety and security of patients in our community. We believe that the Supreme Court decision in McQueen specifically leaves the determination of these public nuisance matters up to the local community and its leaders. We also believe that our proposed legal collective structure for all transfers of medicine protects us from civil or criminal prosecution under Section 4 immunity of the MMMA and McQueen. We pray that you will stand up for your local area citizens who are medical marijuana patients and will not abandon them to unsafe, back alley drug dealers. We pray that you will always find our services to the local community a professional medical public service rather than

4025 E. Hill Rd, Grand Blanc, MI 48439

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Law Office of Bruce Leach

810-275-8899

a public nuisance, as we strive to always abide by the law and stand up for our beloved medical patient rights. There are currently bills pending in the legislature pertaining to Provisioning Centers as drafted by Rep. Calton, which evaluate how licensed dispensaries should be regulated and taxed. We believe this legislation will be fast tracked now after the completion of the McQueen case to further clarify the legality and legitimacy of safe access facilities and will uphold and protect the endangered rights of Michigans Medical Marijuana community. We would like to make available our attorney, Mr. Bruce Leach, to provide any clarification on this matter that you may require. He is available to answer all of your questions and concerns regarding this very important matter. Should you have any further concerns, please contact our attorney at 810-275-8899 and we will gladly provide whatever assistance we can. Sincerely,

Bruce L. Leach, Esq. Counsel for The Karmacy

4025 E. Hill Rd, Grand Blanc, MI 48439

www.bruceleachlaw.com