[420 Girl]

Two years ago, Robin J. Schneider was a housewife who taught Sunday school.

Now, the newly divorced mother has transformed her passion for organic gardening into a new career path as a medicinal marijuana caregiver.

The Haslett woman is among several mid-Michigan people who expect to grow medicinal marijuana in leased space in one of a few converted buildings that may open in coming weeks in the region.

This new niche, designed to meet the rising demand for medical marijuana in Michigan, is emerging against the backdrop of a struggling state economy and high unemployment. Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 14.6 percent.

Similar warehouse facilities, or growing cooperatives, have sprouted up in recent months in other parts of the state, mostly in the Detroit area, marijuana advocates say.

This growing economy, which has drawn scrutiny from public officials, expands on the recent growth in marijuana-related stores, including a marijuana hydroponic shop in Lansing.

"It will be good for Michigan," Robin Schneider said. "It's good for the economy. It will create jobs. It will create a money flow."

Julie Schneider of Lansing, no relation to Robin Schneider, said she is part of a group of investors that is in the process of leasing a commercial building in a light industrial zoned area of Ingham County.

Julie Schneider declined to specify where the 3,000-square-foot building is located. However, she said the group planned to divide the building into about 10 locked pens, or rooms, that would be leased out to caregivers or patients. Each pen would be about 300 square feet.

After opening the facility in coming weeks, Julie Schneider said the group would explore a second location at an undisclosed area in Clinton County.

"There seems to a need for it, so we're looking into it heavily," she said. "People are scared. People are afraid of break-ins" while growing it in their homes.

But state Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores, recently sponsored legislation that would closely regulate the distribution of marijuana — channeling it largely through pharmacies — and one Lansing-area official is concerned about the creation of growing cooperatives in warehouses.

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