[420 Girl]

Madison Heights, MI - Bob Redden thought he was doing the right thing when he went to a medical clinic in Southfield to get paperwork to qualify himself for medical marijuana.

Redden, 59, said he suffers from bone disease and two deteriorating hips, and was told medical marijuana would ease his pain. But on Monday, when Madison Heights police smashed open the front door of his Madison Heights house with a battering ram and seized 21 marijuana plants from a back room, Redden wondered what he had done wrong.

"They stole my plants and my money," Redden said. "We are devastated. The door is torn up. They treated me like I was a criminal. I can't believe this is happening to me. I was assured by my doctor this medical marijuana was going to help and they assured me this is legal."

Police in this Oakland County suburb acknowledged Wednesday they don't know whether Redden broke the law, since rules for marijuana possession in Michigan under the state's new medical marijuana have not been laid out yet by health officials. The state is expected to lay out a medical marijuana program on Saturday.

"We did execute a search warrant and we did confiscate marijuana plants," Police Chief Kevin Sagan said. "The dilemma for law enforcement is we don't have those rules yet."

Sagan said the suspect provided paperwork to officers with the name of a doctor whom police are attempting to verify.

"We are coordinating with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office and based on what we learn from those rules, we will proceed," Sagan said. "The way the law is written it doesn't provide users carte blanche. They have to follow the rules. If we don't know what the rules are, it's in limbo."

Redden said some of the plants belong to his girlfriend, who suffers from cancer and also has the proper paperwork to possess medical marijuana. He said he was using the marijuana for medical use and is not a drug dealer and does not own a scale. The $531 taken by police was to be used to pay utility bills, buy food and put gas in the car, he said.

Redden said he planned to contact police today to obtain the return of all his items, including a personal notebook with account passwords.

Redden, who said he is on Social Security and disability for his health problems, said he obtained his documents from the nonprofit Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, which opened its first clinic in Michigan in Southfield in December. A doctor there qualified Redden, gave him a document to use medical marijuana and from there he started plants from seeds in early March.

"It has helped me tremendously," Redden said of the marijuana. "It helps my girlfriend eat because she has no appetite. I don't know what we are going to do. We have no medicine now."


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