in economic activity during those two years. The state’s GDP
restaurant, the great people coming in from all different places.”
increased by 11% from 2009 to 2012 and bettered the national
The restaurant owners were featured in a television news story
average in 2010 and 2011. Michigan had risen from the
about the 3rd Coast. “It was bringing more attention to their
lowest of the low to the 5th fastest improving state in 2011.
store and others. The news used the restaurant, the gas station,
Domestic cannabis production was good for the economy. “By the end of 2009, cash flow began moving around,” said
the other retailers in the area. All happy to have us there.” In January of 2011, the cannabis-hating former
Roger Maufort, formerly of Jackson County Compassion
Appellate Judge became the state’s Attorney General.
Club, now with Seed Cellar. “Once that cash was spent,
Drug warriors across the state followed the lead of that
the tax dollars went back into the state and the economy.
unhappy sheriff by initiating a crackdown on caregivers,
It helped pull the state out of the recession.”
patients, and retail stores serving the medical market.
Cannabis consumers weren’t buying more cannabis
“Once Schuette was elected, I started getting raided,”
than they had budgeted for. They just changed who they
Basore said. Just days after Schuette took office, a raid
gave the money to. When all the money stays local, all the
was initiated on Big Daddy’s in Oak Park, one of the early
benefit stays local, too. “I recall vividly in 2010 trying to
industry leaders, which drew national attention. “He
get into restaurants, and they were all full,” said Ryan
orchestrated the attacks through local county prosecutors
Basore of Redemption Cannabis. “People paying cash.”
and sheriffs, wherever he could find support.”
In 2010 Basore was running Capital City Caregivers, a
Although most caregivers were undaunted, others closed up
Michigan Avenue unregulated cannabis retailer in the state
their home gardens and returned to making purchases from
capital of Lansing. Derelict buildings grew like weeds along the
those old import-market connections. So did those patients
Avenue, a sign of the harsh decade-long recession. Joblessness
who used the shuttered dispensaries The Schuette effect
and crime lingered like an untreatable illness. “People started
did not bring about a reduction in cannabis consumption. It
growing out of necessity, trying to survive,” Basore said, with
revitalized the import market at the expense of the caregiver’s
emotion in his voice. “It wasn’t play time, it wasn’t fun. If
domestic cannabis market in Michigan. That spiking GDP
their gardens failed, they lost their house.” He paused.
growth from 2011 took a turn for the worse in 2012, dropping
“People grew cannabis to pay down their bills, pay their mortgage, keep the lights on. It saved a lot of people I know.” Caregivers grew more cannabis than their patients needed,
from 5th to 18th fastest GDP growth in the nation. The state’s economic growth was slowed but not stopped- at least, the cannabis portion of it. Cannabis consumer outrage,
and the unregulated cannabis retail industry was there to
and a rise in the number of quasi-legal cannabis retailers
redistribute the overages. In Ypsilanti, which borders on
selling domestic-market cannabis, brought the industry out
liberal Ann Arbor, the 3rd Coast dispensary was founded in
of the Schuette slowdown. The Attorney General received
2009 by Darrell Stavros, Jamie Lowell, and Anthony Freed.
vicious pushback over his efforts to squash the unregulated
“People brought in cannabis for others to use; it created
retail stores and to curtail the cultivation rights of the sick
a really functional system,” Lowell, now the social equity
and injured. Schuette abandoned his public campaign against
director for The Botanical Company, recalled. “They were
cannabis after the first two years of his eight-year tenure.
able to get really good medicine to patients who did not have
“It’s cliche, but we didn’t have the resources or the allies
caregivers. The operators were caregivers, and the budtenders
in government that the AG had, but we had the truth on
were caregivers. It was very functional and productive.”
our side,” Jamie Lowell proclaimed. “That was always
Unregulated medical cannabis retailers were popular. “From 2010-11, in Lansing specifically, we jumped up
obvious and minimized a lot of what Schuette was doing.” “He bet his whole political career on ending marijuana,”
to 35-40 dispensaries,” Basore remembered. The stretch
Basore explained, “but these are your neighbors, the
of Michigan Avenue running from the expressway, past
people you work with or go to church with. You know them
Basore’s shop, and arriving at the Capitol Building became
as good people. To see them raided and have guns put to
known as the Green Mile. Those weedy derelict buildings
their head forever changed a lot of Michigan folks.”
became painted and restored weed buildings. “I had the
Videos of elderly people being led off in handcuffs by cops
first dispensary on the Green Mile and watched 12 others
enraged the citizenry. Basore’s home and cultivation setup
pop up over the next two years,” Basore chuckled.
was raided by police and National Guard helicopters in a
The economic benefit of this domestic cannabis surge
military-style assault which eventually landed him in federal
is difficult to chart in large part because it affects nearly
prison for two years. Each episode of overreach stained not
every aspect of commerce. “The sign companies had their
just Schuette but also those responsible for carrying out
best year,” observed Basore, “not to mention the electricians,
his cannabis crackdown. The memories are still very real to
the HVAC, everyone was making money. So many people
those who were involved, including Basore and his family.
in Lansing were benefitting from the caregiver grows.”
“Michigan law enforcement has a lot of damage to make up
“We have a Coney Island restaurant a half-block away from 3rd Coast,” Lowell recalled. “We were popular, and sometimes
for because of those multi-jurisdictional SWAT teams.” Lawmakers will point to changes in tax law or incentive
we had parking issues. They allowed our overflow into their
programs as the catalyst for the beginning of the boom. The
parking lot; they enjoyed the extra business we brought to the
cannabis industry’s growth didn’t rely on incentives, tax
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