2B — Thursday, January 29, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Editors note: Due to the legal
sensitivity of the topic, some names
have been changed.
I pulled into the parking lot
of People’s Choice of Ann Arbor
on a gray and slushy afternoon,
equal parts excited and nervous to
step into a medical marijuana dis-
pensary for the first time. A large
purple wall greeted me in front of
my windshield, featuring a large
mural with the name of the estab-
lishment and the painted skyline
of Ann Arbor. Sun-deprived from
months with Michigan weather
and kicking the snow from my
boots, opening the door to the dis-
pensary provided a sensory explo-
sion to contrast the dreariness of a
January afternoon: walls painted
in warm hues of orange, reg-
gae playing softly on the waiting
room speakers and that distinctive
skunky smell.
Sarah, the manager of People’s
Choice, greeted me promptly with
a warm smile and a handshake,
and gave me a tour of the store. We
walked from the waiting room to
the managerial office to the prod-
uct room, where shelves of vari-
ous marijuana strains sat behind
a large glass cabinet filled with
edibles (marijuana-infused food
or candy products) and the walls
were lined with pipes and bongs.
The store in its entirety was mod-
est-sized, but what it lacked in size,
People’s Choice made up for in
coziness and comfort.
I was brought back to the pri-
vate office where I was introduced
to owner and president of People’s
Choice, Daryl. Sarah and Daryl,
both soft-spoken and easygoing,
radiate a vibe that rides the thresh-
old between humanitarian and
business. They did not come into
the medical cannabis business to
find a legal way to help their friends
get high, a stereotype enforced by
years of dispensary raids on cop
shows and Showtime’s addictively
popular “Weeds.” In fact, that could
not be farther from the truth. Both
have personal histories of why they
became acquainted and interested
in the medicinal effects of marijua-
na due to watching loved ones suf-
fer from the effects of debilitating
diseases and the harsh prescription
pills that come with it.
“When I started five years ago, I
had a true reason to jump into this
business and try to help people who
need it. My mother has MS (mul-
tiple sclerosis), and she tried dif-
ferent medications her whole life
and nothing really worked,” Daryl
said. “My cousin has RA (rheuma-
toid arthritis) very bad, and the
first time I gave him medical can-
nabis he called me the next day and
said, ‘Daryl, last night is the first
time I slept through the night in
three years.’ For that powerful of a
statement to come out of someone’s
mouth re-solidifies our purpose.”
Both Sarah and Daryl became
involved in the medical canna-
bis industry in California when it
became legalized in the state for
medical purposes. Both Michigan
natives, they returned after Michi-
gan voters passed the Michigan
Medical Marijuana Initiative, also
known as Proposal 1, which allows
patients suffering from debilitating
conditions, inscribed as including
cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV,
to use marijuana with a Medical
Marijuana Card. The store itself
has been around since July 2010.
Before her introduction to the
medical cannabis industry, Sarah’s
husband had been suffering from
substantial back pain and was try-
ing to find alternative treatment
options. It’s the understanding
of marijuana as a medicine that
drives the work at People’s Choice,
and the passion of helping others
that encompasses the attitudes of
Daryl and Sarah. The two believe
that the general public’s changing
attitudes toward medical cannabis
has been greatly positive.
“I would say that the general
population has really turned a cor-
ner,” Daryl said. “When medical
marijuana first came out, I think
there were a lot of questions like,
‘Oh, is this really medicine?’ or,
‘Does this really work?’ or, ‘Are
these people just hippies trying to
find a reason to get high?’ But as
time goes on, more and more medi-
cal evidence comes out, and people
are opening their eyes and saying,
‘Wow, this is real medicine that is
changing people’s lives daily.’”
And Daryl used science to back
this up. THC, or tetrahydrocan-
nabinol, is the active physiologi-
cal compound naturally found in
cannabis. This compound treats
nausea in cancer patients and
increases appetite, also called “the
munchies.” CBD, or cannabidiol,
is another active compound found
in cannabis, which researchers
say treats a wider range of disease
than THC. Your brain does have
cannabinoid receptors, which are
associated with mood, appetite,
pain sensation and memory. Your
body, like many mammals, also
produces cannabinoids naturally,
which attach to these receptors.
When a body ingests cannabis, the
body can test positive for marijua-
na for around 30 days.
“When your body holds onto
something for a month, like mari-
juana, it’s because it wants it. Your
body has natural CBD receptors
in it, pre-built in. When people
understand this, they can under-
stand cannabis as a medicine and
understand how it helps people.”
Lloyd Johnston, a distinguished
senior research scientist at the
University’s Institute for Social
Research, has studied the effects
of drug use on young people for
decades. While he does believe
the pro-medical testimonials of
those suffering from certain ill-
nesses, Johnston is skeptical of
laws increasing the availability of
marijuana to the general public, as
he still sees marijuana as a drug.
“The jury is still out on what
all the consequences of marijuana
are,” Johnston said. “We know it is
very rarely lethal, but it does have
the potential to create dependence,
contrary to what was believed for
some years. And there’s increasing
evidence accumulating that it may
interfere with brain development
when used chronically in adoles-
cence and early adulthood, when
the brain is still developing.”
Johnston is not convinced that
medical marijuana will become
legal nationwide, and sees an
increase of non-medical use of the
drug as an extraneous result of
legalization for medical purposes.
“I’m not at all sure that (legal-
izing medical marijuana) is likely
to happen,” Johnston said. “Young
people have come to see marijuana
as considerably less dangerous
in recent years, no doubt in part
because of the medical marijuana
and legalization debates, and their
use of it has been rising.”
Daryl disagrees with Johnston’s
prediction of nationwide legaliza-
tion.
“There is not an inkling of
doubt in my mind. About half in
the Union is already in some stage
of the medical level, so at some
point the national government has
to recognize that,” Daryl said. “I
would say within the next three to
five years we may see some sort of
national marijuana policy change
in favor of medical.”
Daryl cited a 2014 House of rep-
resentatives decision to limit the
Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion from pursuing medical mari-
juana use in legal states. With help
from high-profile physicians, like
University alum Sanjay Gupta, a
staunch medical cannabis advo-
cate, more people are being turned
on to the idea that marijuana can
be a medicine rather than a taboo.
“We see a lot of people who
come in (to People’s Choice) for the
first time and they feel the stigma,
and are worried about what to
expect,” Sarah said. “Once they
realize that it’s no big deal, they
can finally relax, and that attitude
has definitely changed over the
years as well.”
“You can go all the way from
babies having seizures and give
them a high CBD dose in medicine
and their seizures will stop,” Daryl
said. “You can look at an older per-
son with serious chronic pain who
has been on Vicodin for years and
it’s tearing up their GI tract. When
they switch over to medical canna-
bis they get away completely from
the Vicodin, and their GI tract will
start to heal itself, and they’re actu-
ally starting to feel better because
they aren’t dealing with the bad
side effects of the narcotics.”
“We see examples of this daily,”
Sarah added. “We’ll have a Crohn’s
disease patient feeling sick and as
soon as they start medicating they
gain 40 pounds and they’re finally
feeling healthy again. There are
just countless stories like that.”
“From the outside looking in,
it’s hard to see these examples
because you don’t see the pain
coming from these people’s faces,”
Daryl said. “People come in cry-
ing, or they leave crying because
they’re so elated, they’ll say, ‘Oh my
God, I finally feel normal and well,
instead of high off these narcotics,
off the Oxycotin and the Vicodin,’
and they can go back into their
lives and function again.”
The business of a medical
marijuana dispensary is, according
to Sarah and Daryl, not much
different than that of any other
local pharmacy. People’s Choice is
a firm supporter of buying locally,
and all the product within the
store is Michigan grown. The glass
pieces sold are almost all from
local artists, and the pair pride
themselves on being a Michigan-
based company.
“I’d say 90 percent of the
operations are the same as any
other business,” Daryl said.
“You need to have a patient
database, a record of every-
thing they’ve purchased, so it’s
looked at in mostly a pharma-
ceutical light, which it should
be. If it’s medicine, you need to
treat it as such.”
People’s Choice relies on
the help of volunteers for sec-
retarial functions and has a
small paid staff, all of whom are
required to hold Medical Mari-
juana Cards of their own, and
well as to be licensed Medical
Marijuana Caregivers.
“I’d say the volunteers who
are drawn to this are somewhat
humanitarian, in the sense that
they see there’s a need for their
help,” Daryl said. “And they’re
willing to risk a little, if you will.”
The risk Daryl referred to was
exemplified by an unexpected
DEA raid on People’s Choice
in August 2013. The event was
traumatizing for the workers of
the dispensary, but the owners
fought and won their case against
the federal agents, as there was
nothing incriminating or illegal
at the scene.
“The people working (at Peo-
ple’s Choice) at that time were
here because they were willing
to put themselves on the line in
order to get people the medicine
they need,” Daryl said.
As I finished my interview
with Sarah and Daryl, I was filled
with a sense of humanitarianism
I did not expect from my experi-
ence at the dispensary. Walking
back through the hallway I first
came from, mentally saying good-
bye to the calming reggae and the
poster of Bob Marley on the wall,
I had nearly forgotten how gray
and cold the world outside was.
EVENT PREVIEW
Folk Festival returns
to Ann Arbor Friday
By CAROLYN DARR
Daily Arts Writer
This year, the much-loved local
venue The Ark will have treated
Ann Arbor to fantastic folk and
roots music for 50 years. As a non-
profit organization, a great part of
The Ark’s funding comes from its
annual Folk Festival. This week-
end’s lineup will feature different
artists on Friday and Saturday
nights, including some big names
such as Amos Lee, Ani DeFranco
and Brandi Carlile.
The Ark was created in 1965;
yet by 1977 the venue was having
a hard time making ends meet.
The idea for a fundraiser was
conceived, and the format of a
music festival was decided upon.
The first Folk Festival took place
at the Power Center in 1977, and,
due to the proceeds from the
fundraiser, The Ark was able
to stay open another year. The
Folk Festival quickly became an
annual event that is still necessary
for The Ark as an organization to
survive. As a non-profit mostly
staffed by volunteers, The Ark
puts on over 300 shows a year.
Barbara
Authier,
The
Ark’s
current
Marketing
Director,
began as a volunteer herself.
“The Ark presents a pretty
broad range of genres. We have
blues and bluegrass and singer/
songwriter,
and
that
whole
gamut of rootsy Americana kind
of music,” Authier said. “That’s
a lot of different things and we
want the (Folk Festival) bill each
year to have a balance of those
different styles. You want peo-
ple to have a taste of what the
whole range of stuff is that we do
throughout the year.”
The Folk Festival now takes
place at Hill Auditorium, as The
Ark only seats 400, and the Fes-
tival has grown much larger than
that. Originally only one night,
when Hill Auditorium was being
renovated and the Festival had to
be moved to the Michigan The-
atre, The Ark expanded it to two
nights to accommodate the usual
audience. Now, each evening fea-
tures separate artists, and the Fes-
tival usually sells out, with over
7000 guests attending.
“We do book a couple of big
name headliners that help draw
people in that don’t know The
Ark, and might not have heard
of the other artists, but will
come to see the big name and
then discover something great,”
Authier said. “So one goal is to
bring in those big names to raise
the money for the fundraiser.
Then the other goal of the festi-
val is to introduce those smaller
artists, the emerging artists or
just lesser known people who
play The Ark through the year.
We try to achieve a balance
between those big names, the
unknowns and also local Michi-
gan artists.”
This year the Folk Festival
will serve as a sort of home-
coming to some of the headlin-
ing artists who were featured
at The Ark before they were
famous. Amos Lee played at
The Ark’s “Take a Chance
Tuesday” Series before he was
even signed to a label, and Ani
DeFranco’s first show at The
Ark hosted less than 20 people.
“We knew they were good,
we know good music and we see
it and then we put them in front
of an audience. That’s part of
our mission,” Authier said. “We
work with these unknown art-
ists and then we stay with them
through the arc of their career
because the music is the most
important thing.”
The Ark receives over 1200
demos a year, and their pro-
gramming staff takes the time
to listen and rate every single
one. The Ark also hosts events
like Open Stage where, once
a month, artists can put their
name in a drawing to play a few
songs. Some artists are selected
to host their own showcase or
even to play the Folk Festival.
“It’s amazing music,” Authier
said. “If you like music chances
are there’s going to be some-
thing at the Folk Festival that
you will like. Not everybody
likes the same kind of music,
and we’re a folk venue, it’s a folk
festival, and everyone has this
small idea of what that means
to them, but our perspective on
it is that it’s really huge. Folk
isn’t a small thing, it’s a really
wide range of different styles,
so we’ve been talking about it
as full spectrum folk, its every
kind of thing. Our slogan for the
last few years has been ‘Find
Your Folk’ because whatever it
means to you, you’ll probably
find it at the Folk Festival. Find
the music that you love.”
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
Bizarre definitely lives up to
his name and image in “Juice
& Gin,” and
not
in
the
same
way
that the “Jus-
tin
Bieber”
music
video
was
creepy
and
repug-
nant, but sim-
ply that it’s
weird.
The
video
opens
with
Bizarre angrily playing with a
lighter with a crazed expres-
sion on his face. There’s plenty
of gin to be seen in the back-
ground of the studio — in still
shots and in Bizarre’s hand.
You can always count on
Bizarre to appear drugged up.
“Juice & Gin” is also full of
eye-catching fashion choices
– in one scene, a furry purple
bomber hat, no shirt and red
gym shorts. In another shot,
he’s leaning up against an
apartment hallway wall, rock-
ing a t-shirt with “I pop molly,
I don’t rock Tom Ford,” in bold,
bright letters.
Cinematographically
speaking, the video has an
overabundance of film burns.
I suppose they prove to be
smooth, trippy transitions,
but the effect is abused. The
shots themselves are also
headache
provoking.
The
camera
deliberately
pans
back and forth in a swift and
shaky manner, out of sync
with the slower paced song.
Bizarre adds a little bit
of flavor with his expected
antics, but in the end, “Juice &
Gin,” proves to be an average,
low-budget music video.
-KEN SELANDER
SHADY RECORDS
B-
‘Juice &
Gin’
Bizarre
Self-Released
SINGLE REVIEW
“FourFiveSeconds” comes
in
the
same
fashion
as
Kanye’s “Only One.” Without
the technical
flashiness of
pop or hip
hop, the song
finds its ele-
gantly
sim-
ple
tempo
from just an
acoustic gui-
tar for the
chorus
and
keys for the
bridge. Not only is this new
Rihanna music — it is fresh
Rihanna music.
It’s a song about keeping
it together, whether for four
to five seconds, until Friday
or until you can make it back
home. Lyrically, it’s relatable,
finding its thematic roots in
everyday struggle as opposed
to the lavish lifestyles RiRi and
Ye often sing about.
The track could feel absent
without
Paul
McCartney’s
great vocals, but its minimalist
production is remarkable for
the pop and rap stars. Typi-
cally characterized by heavy
beats and techno synths, the
unplugged sound McCartney’s
production brings to Rihan-
na and Kanye is smooth and
enriched, allowing the singers
to show what they can really do.
As I type this, “I got three
more days ‘til Friday,” and I
plan on listening to “FourFi-
veSeconds” the entire time.
-CHRISTIAN KENNEDY
ROC NATION
A
‘FourFive
Seconds’
Rihanna,
Kanye West
and Paul
McCartney
Roc Nation
FROGPAD
String bass forever.
DISPENSARY
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