GAYLORD – Marijuana shop Meds Cafe will officially open on Saturday, August 17, and many will come to see Darren McCarty, the former Detroit Red Wing turned cannabis advocate.
Among the guests will be Gaylord City Councilman Al Witt, who owns a small stake (8%) in the company.
The opening is another chapter in Witt’s story. It was in the same building at 115 S. Wisconsin Ave. that Witt was arrested in 2015 as part of a series of raids on medical marijuana dispensaries.
“They took everything, including my car,” Witt recalled.
Witt claims he was accused of selling medical marijuana to non-patients.
“I was threatened with up to 12 years in prison, that was real,” said Witt.
The arrest was a shock, but the incident also motivated Witt and others to start a campaign to change the law.
More: Witt receives long prison sentence in medical marijuana case
“We eventually started a petition and helped change the ordinance in Gaylord. We got a new definition for dispensaries and it actually reflects what we have now. The ordinance went into effect the day my trial began (February 16, 2016),” he said.
Witt was able to defeat two of the three charges brought against him. He was found guilty of possession with intent to distribute because he was in possession of the keys to the store.
“I was sentenced to 180 days in prison,” he said.
Witt served 45 days in jail, 45 days under house arrest, and 45 days expunged before being released on parole. He then launched a campaign to get Brendan Curran elected district attorney. While circulating petitions for a candidate for city office, he collected signatures for his own candidacy for city council and won a council seat in the 2017 election.
In 2018, the state’s voters approved a referendum legalizing the recreational use and sale of marijuana. Two years later, then-Mayor Bill Wishart created a commission to study marijuana and appointed Witt to the panel. The commission recommended that Gaylord legalize marijuana. In 2021, the council, including Witt, passed an ordinance allowing the sale and recreational use of marijuana.
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“Cannabis really changed my life. It took me out of prison and into some of the best times of my life,” Witt said.
It has also allowed him to befriend some people who once opposed his activism. He recalls a city councilman who “was one of my biggest opponents.”
“But after educating him about cannabis, he is now one of my biggest advocates,” Witt said.
He became aware of the medical use of marijuana when his uncle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“I tried to make the last days of his life easier for him, and cannabis really helped him get through the chemotherapy and radiation. There really is a medicinal side to the cannabis plant,” he said. “It’s wonderful to see what Gaylord went through and where he’s going with marijuana.”
So when you walk into Meds Cafe on Saturday and see Witt with a wistful look in his eyes, remember it’s because of his personal journey that has taken him to prison, probation, activist, city councilman and now entrepreneur. The Gaylord store will join the seven other Michigan locations that are part of Witt’s venture, including locations in Cheboygan and Rogers City in Northern Michigan.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at [email protected].
