Jump to content

Lansing Marijuana Moratorium, Ordinance Draws Opinions


t-pain

Recommended Posts

Lansing, MI (WILX) - The years of Lansing medicalicon1.pngmarijuana dispensaries operating without licensing or regulation may be drawing to a close.

"We have a licensing ordinance, there's vetting of applicants," Lansing City Council 3rd Ward Membericon1.pngAdam Hussain said. 

But first, the city council's public safety committee has to iron out the details. "There's some issues with the ordinance, the way it's written, there's language that conflicts," Hussain, who is a member of the public safety committee, said. "But in any event, we're on the right track."

The committee is reworking a draft of the new rules, which right now, among other things, say dispensaries can't be too close to schools, can't be run by convicted felons, and can't have more than 72 marijuana plants per caregivericon1.png. "Our primary goal is we need to provide for responsible, safe access for patients," Hussain said. "That has to come through with licensing, zoning, testing, things of that nature."

The way the ordinance is written right now, only patients are allowed to grow marijuana in their homes, not caregiversicon1.png, which some at the meeting said unfairly forces caregivers to rent other buildings. "As it pertains to caregivers operating in commercial areas, I think the ordinance is legal," Robin Schneider with the National Patients' Rights Association said. "I think it makes a lot of sense, unfortunately, I don't think it's legal to ban caregivers from operating in their own homes."

The ordinance is also missing any product testing requirements. But community members say it's a step in the right direction. "Neighbors have been workingicon1.png hard to keep up their area, and we need to have protections in the neighborhoods also because we do have rights," Elaine Womboldt of Rejuvenating South Lansing said. 

Hussain says the committee hopes to pass the ordinance by July. The committee is still asking for feedback from the community on the ordinance. The committee will have its next public meeting about medical marijuana dispensaries on May 13 at city hall.

http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Lansing-City-Council-Working-On-Draft-of-Medical-Pot-Ordinance-376805981.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope you are right Zap.

 

It makes no sense at all.  I am currently a patient only and am struggling growing atm.

I had planned once I was better at my craft to take on at least 1 patient.  This community

has been so very good to me, I want to give back.

So, if I do eventually take on a patient, I then also have to move from my awesome apartment?

How is this idea even feasible.

 

I suppose it's time to make some appointments to see my city council members.

I had originally planned to make the safety meetings until I realized that I prefer to not have my

name and face out there for the public + the idea of public speaking freezes my vocal chords :(

 

One of the local shop owners lives next to a friends mom and he grows right out in his back yard with in the city.

He is rude to his elderly neighbor, encroached upon her property and she is too afraid to say anything,

he has armed guards on his property, dogs etc... this is not the type of persons I want representing our community.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the local shop owners lives next to a friends mom and he grows right out in his back yard with in the city.

He is rude to his elderly neighbor, encroached upon her property and she is too afraid to say anything,

he has armed guards on his property, dogs etc... this is not the type of persons I want representing our community.

Exactly the type of a-hole that brings down the heat. He should be boycotted and picket signs wouldn't be a bad idea either. Let everyone know that he doesn't have the support of the community.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

LANSING – Would you want a medical marijuana shop in your neighborhood?

That’s the question Michael Morofsky, a resident of Colonial Village neighborhood in Lansing, put to me. He’s opposed to a new medical marijuana dispensary that just opened on West Mount Hope Road. It’s called Our Miracle Garden. (If you didn't pick up on it, that's OMG for short.)

The owners purchased a former doctor’s office for $49,000 in March and raced to open it before the Lansing City Council’s May 12 moratorium on new shops.

Though Colonial Village — a large, pretty neighborhood of colonial and ranch homes — has a commercial strip inside its neighborhood borders, this is the first medical marijuana shop in the neighborhood.

Morofsky said there are too many marijuana shops in Lansing already. At least two more are within two miles east on Mount Hope Road.

“They’re like a Quality Dairy — there’s almost one on every corner. I don’t think this will be beneficial to our neighborhood,” he said.

When it comes to medical marijuana, Michigan’s conflicting laws and court rulings feel like the Wild, Wild West: Whatever you can get away with goes.

And Lansing has signaled it’s a place to push the entrepreneurial envelope when it comes to pot.

Michigan voters approved medical marijuana in 2008. The act allows use of marijuana for medical reasons by those who hold a state-issued medical marijuana card. A physician’s approval is needed. More than 4,000 patients in the region have a card.

As dispensaries popped up, the Lansing City Council tried to regulate them but the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2011 ruled them illegal and regulation stopped. Then, the Michigan Supreme Court in 2013 said that communities could use public nuisance laws to shut them down.

 

But Lansing has not shut them down. And Bernero very publicly threw out the medical marijuana welcome mat when he spoke at the Hash Bash in Ann Arbor last year.

Now, there are so many dispensaries that the city does not have an official count of them. About 70 is the latest estimate. Lansing could well be the weed capital of the state when dispensaries-per-capita are measured.

 

The City Council is trying to hammer out regulations with an ordinance slated for approval by July. More regulation is pending in the Michigan Legislature but progress has been slow.

I visited Our Miracle Garden and spoke with Debbie Robinson, a partner in the shop on Mount Hope.

The once-empty former doctor’s office has been repainted, power washed and generally cleaned up. The owners plan to repave the parking lot and workers were digging a flower bed.

It had the look of a brightly lit health spa.

Robinson said she and her partner invested in high security locks, cameras and vaults to run a safe store along a well-traveled corridor.

The building's appearance is improved over a doctor’s office that sat empty for 15 months. (The previous owner, Dr. Otto Graesser, said he tried to sell his practice along with the building but he had no takers.)

 

Robinson said she and her business partner, Jennifer Goodman, both Lansing residents, are running an upscale dispensary. They’re reaching out to neighbors.

“I definitely understand their concerns. That is why we are doing an upscale provisioning center. We want to be a positive force in the neighborhood,” Robinson said.

One big problem for Our Miracle Garden is the zoning. At-large City Council Member Carol Wood, who heads the council's public safety committee, said the shop is not located in the proper zone. She’s received about a dozen calls from area residents upset about the store.

The corner is zoned for office use. That allowed the doctor’s office to operate but it doesn’t support a retail establishment, Wood said.

“If they were across the street in that commercial corridor (west along Mount Hope), the neighbors still would be upset but there would be nothing we could do,” she said.

Robinson said she believes her business complies with professional business office, much like a doctor’s office.

“It is a professional office. We are running a professional business,” she said.

I have to admit I was impressed by the look of OMG medical marijuana business. So back to Morofsky’s question. Would I want it in my neighborhood?

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/judy-putnam/2016/05/21/putnam-do-lansing-neighborhoods-and-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-mix/84652526/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...