Lansing City Council Considering Moratorium On Pot Businesses

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The growing number of dispensaries, compassionate care clubs and hydroponics stores in Lansing in the two years since Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act was approved by voters is causing the city to look at slowing things down.

 

The City Council introduced a proposed ordinance that would block new businesses from opening up in town. The moratorium would last a year but could be shortened if the city comes up licensing or regulation. Currently opened businesses would not be affected by the moratorium.

 

"It would give us a year to work through this information and come up with a cohesive ordinance that will be the most effective for Lansing," said city councillor Carol Wood.

 

Some local dispensary owners are in favor of a moratorium because it would allow the city time to institute regulations around issues like security, insurance and zoning.

 

"We applaud the city of Lansing for doing this," said Ryan Basore of Capital City Caregivers. "This gives the city a chance to slow down and look at what they can do to regulate our industry."

 

But not everyone is in favor of the ordinance.

 

"This is a business and these people need to have a right for business," said John Pollard, a Lansing resident who thinks that the proposed moratorium is too long. "We can't keep this up too long because this is a legitimate business, no matter what some people may think."

 

Councilmembers Kathie Dunbar and Jessica Yorko both voted against even setting a public hearing to discuss the ordinance because of issues they had with the length and breadth of the moratorium.

 

East Lansing attorney Jeffrey Hank has been looking to open a moratorium in East Lansing but has been stymmied by a similar moratorium in place in that city. He's in favor of a more laissez faire approach to the industry.

 

"We're not putting moratoriums on other businesses," said Hanks. "It seems like we ought to be bringing this into the legitimate limelight and passing a moratorium doesn't allow others to do that."

 

The council is expected to vote on the ordinance on December 6th following a public hearing.

 

 

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http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/Lansing_City_Council_Considering_Moratorium_on_Dispensaries_111019309.html

 

 

 

 

A hold on pot shops?

The Lansing City Council will introduce an ordinance tonight that places a moratorium on “medical marihuana establishments”

by Andy Balaskovitz

Monday, Nov. 29 — The Lansing City Council is scheduled to introduce an ordinance to place a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses at tonight’s meeting before a planned public hearing Dec. 6.

 

The ordinance would set up a permitting process through the City Clerk’s office for any new businesses looking to open, but that could not happen until the moratorium is lifted. The Council would likely vote on Dec. 13 on whether to put a hold on what are commonly referred to as dispensaries.

 

“Medical marihuana establishments” are defined in the ordinance as “any nonresidential land use involving the growth, distribution, storage, or use of marihuana.” There are 16 such businesses in the city, but those would not be affected by a moratorium.

 

Without giving a specific end date on the moratorium, the ordinance says the City Clerk’s office will not issue any permits until “such time as an ordinance regulating medical marihuana establishments has been adopted to supersede it.”

 

However, that further regulation is in the works. The Public Safety Committee is mulling over a draft ordinance that City Attorney Brig Smith has referred to as “volume two” of medical marijuana regulation in the city. That ordinance permits “compassionate care centers” with certain distance restrictions from public and private schools.

 

Other characteristics of “compassionate care centers” include fee-based memberships for caregivers and patients, it must be incorporated as a nonprofit and show “services indicating a bona fide service-oriented relationship between the compassionate care center and its members.”

 

Though it does not grant state or federal immunity, the draft ordinance describes Lansing as a “safe harbor” for what are commonly known as dispensaries.

 

On Sept. 20, the Council adopted an ordinance that regulates in-home dispensing of cannabis.

 

The moratorium, if approved by a majority of the Council, would be in place “until the city has completed its study of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.”

 

Two groups have expressed formal support for the moratorium: a local branch of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Lewton Rich Neighborhood Association.

 

Thomas Krug, executive director of Lodge 141 of the Order, wrote in a Nov. 19 letter to the city that “the impact on law enforcement should not be settled in haste and a policy developed to ensure the proper use and dispensing of medical marijuana.”

 

Lewton Rich was less guarded in its letter, which was signed by seven members of the organization, including the group’s President Patty Farhat and Vice President Angela Allen.

 

“We are as unhappy, as are most of the residents of the city of Lansing, with the reckless manner in which the State Legislature passed this initiated law in December, 2008,” the letter says. “Our hope lies in you to rectify this situation/problem so that future moratoriums will be better monitored and penalties forced if these moratoriums are in violation of the initiated law.”

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-5170-a-hold-on-pot-shops.html

 

 

Don't use moratorium to block marijuana

An LSJ editorial

November 29, 2010

 

 

 

Some comes in the form of questions. Opponents have many, and argue that the law was too vague or silent on too many points, inviting legal problems.

Those who believe voters understood what they were passing might counter that anything not expressly prohibited ought to be allowed.

Until the state's court system ultimately sorts things out, a wise approach to additional regulation would include caution.

However, it's important that state lawmakers, local elected officials and law enforcement respect the decision of voters and proceed with great care so as not to subvert the voters' intent.

Lansing officials last week said they are considering a moratorium on commercial marijuana businesses after having considered possible means of locally regulating such operations.

The Lansing City Council expects to take up the moratorium in December; action would be preceded by a public hearing.

As of last week, there was not a set time limit for the moratorium. Nor had the council clearly stated the nature of the additional research needed to make a decision.

The LSJ Editorial Board already has cautioned the city to proceed slowly. Fears of problems that have not developed should not be the basis for regulation. And council members exercised sound reasoning earlier this year when approving rules for operation of home-based businesses growing medical marijuana. That reflects the law's intent that individual caregivers be allowed to grow plants and supply marijuana products for up to five registered patients. Treating caregivers as any other home-based business concern made sense.

Commercial marijuana dispensaries are not specifically dealt with in the 2008 law. There are no provisions for or against them.

That being the case, a moratorium to wait for a clearer picture to emerge may seem wise. But a moratorium is, in fact, an action that could have the effect of regulation. The city must not let such restrictions drag on indefinitely. It must be specific about what information it expects to acquire and indicate a reasonable time for that.

Although local officials believe a moratorium won't deny access to medical marijuana, it seems quite likely that a long-term moratorium would do just that.

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20101129/OPINION01/11290310/1086/OPINION01

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http://www.lansingmi.gov/Lansing/clerk/docs/Council_Packet_2010_11_29.pdf

 

 

 

"Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." - Drug Enforcement Agency, Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young (1988).