Six-year legal saga over medical pot plot ends with $500 fine

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — A western Michigan man approved by the state to grow marijuana for medical purposes has been fined $500 for giving free space to others to raise pot.

The Grand Rapids Press reports the sentence for Ryan Bylsma’s misdemeanor convictions ends a legal saga begun with his 2010 arrest.

He was charged when Grand Rapids police counted 88 plants during a raid on a commercial building, dozens more than Bylsma was allowed to tend under the 2008 law.

The state Supreme Court in 2012 agreed the arrangement was illegal. Still, it sent the case back to Kent County to allow Bylsma to offer another defense not previously argued.

Bylsma says he wanted to help people with pain and adds he wants to “get on with my life.”