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In 2010, Ryan Basore left his job in the insurance industry and entered the state’s nascent medical marijuana industry, becoming one of Michigan’s first caregivers.

Within the span of three years, Basore would be targeted by federal investigators, charged with marijuana-related crimes and be imprisoned.

Now, a decade after opening his first medical marijuana business, and only a few years removed from his release, Basore, a cannabis advocate, is launching a new brand of products aimed at helping those affected by the continued criminalization of marijuana named Redemption.

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Michigan logged its first day of recreational marijuana sales Sunday, attracting long lines to three shops in Ann Arbor.

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Basore’s road from the insurance industry to creating Redemption Cannibis Co. has been long and winding.

In 2008, Michigan voters approved medical marijuana, although leaders at the state and local levels scrambled to create a regulated market.

Cannabis remained and still remains, illegal at the federal level.

It was in that patchwork environment that Basore began operating a dispensary on Michigan Avenue in Lansing.

Later, he would begin a grow operation in a warehouse near Okemos High School with the knowledge of local officials. He and the other parties involved with the facility believed they were operating within the bounds of the law.

More: Want a medical marijuana card? Despite COVID-19, you need to meet in-person with a doctor

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In 2010, the facility was raided by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and in 2012, Basore and six others, including Dennis Corey, Kyle Corey, Lance Forsberg, Dennis Forsberg, Patrick Karslake and Douglas Frakes, were indicted on charges in connection with the Okemos facility.

In 2013, Basore pleaded guilty to two charges and was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison, the longest sentence of those indicted. He was released after serving three years.

Basore, now a 43-year-old Greater Lansing resident, continues to work in the marijuana industry and is now angling to use cannabis to help those incarcerated by cannabis laws.

The first products from Basore’s Redemption Cannabis Co. are expected to go on sale in some of Lansing’s marijuana retail locations on May 23.

“Ten percent of all my revenue goes to a nonprofit that I’m setting up to help people who have been affected by the war on cannabis,” said Basore.

He plans to put money toward helping people that are still in prison for marijuana to get out and helping people already released with training, he said.

Basore said part of his inspiration came from spending time in a halfway house in Kalamazoo.

“I’d say about 80% of the people I was in there with are back in prison,” he said. “You don’t have any support and you’re set up completely to fail.”

Basore said he was lucky to have family and friends. “Not everybody did. And they went back to their lifestyle just out of survival,” he said.

“I wouldn’t feel right, getting through it and having the resources, not helping other people and not doing anything,” he said.

The Redemption brand was made possible in part by a $50,000 social equity grant awarded to Basore by Michigan-based cannabis company Gage.

Last year, Gage awarded nearly $1 million in social equity grants to business owners in Michigan cities who had been impacted by the criminalization of marijuana.

Basore was the first recipient of a grant.

The Redemption products were produced in partnership with Lansing’s TRUU Cannabis, as well as Michigan-based companies Fresh Coast Extracts, Driven Grow, Fresh Coast Extracts and Gage.

“I want to promote the growers…and the people that have been caregivers and the people that love it,” he said. “And not just be some corporate logo.”

Contact business reporter Christian Martinez at cmartinez@lsj.com or (517) 267-1342. Follow him on Twitter at @ChristianM_CA.

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