Cannquest Expo Draws Buzz As Proposed Moratorium Looms

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First annual expo on city's south side brings attention to ongoing debate about legalization of marijuana. City Council set to have May 12 public hearing on proposed moratorium on dispensaries.

 

LANSING - One day at the city's first Extreme Cannquest Expo wasn't enough for Roberta Wiborn.

After visiting Friday, the Dimondale 74-year-old recruited her neighbors, Darrell and Brenda Leonard, to come with her Saturday and help share her story about medical marijuana's powers.

"Tell them to call me if they don't believe it!" Wiborn said outside the Causeway Bay Hotel's ballroom. "I tell you what, it saved my life."

The recovering cancer patient was one of 2,500 expected at the weekend expo organized by Lansing residents Steve and Maria Green, which runs until Sunday evening.

 

Organizers estimated about 300 showed up Friday for opening day. Vendors lined the hotel ballroom, selling everything form edibles and lotions to growing supplies and pro-marijuana paraphernalia such as shirts, hats and psychedelic flags.

An outdoor smoking area allowed medical marijuana cardholders to enjoy a variety of strains. Inside, attendees could buy a barbecue sauce called Sweet Baby Haze, an alternative to Sweet Baby Ray's, marijuana brownies, even THC-infused popcorn butter. There was a series of forums on marijuana businesses, health benefits involved with its use and ways to inspire others to take action so it can be legalized.

 

Centerline residents Jim and Erin Powers gave a presentation on how, against the odds, they were able to get their 7-year-old son, Ryan, a medical marijuana card. He received it four years ago to treat minimal change disease, a condition that damages filtration units in the kidney and causes large amounts of protein to leak into the urine.

 

 

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Use of cannabis oil from a provisioning center in Ypsilanti helped put Ryan in remission, Jim Powers said. The family has been fighting for three years to get legislation approved to clarify state laws about dispensaries and provisioning centers. Networking events like the Extreme Cannquest Expo give them encouragement to press on and help others with sick children.

"If you're willing to look long enough, you will find people who can help you," Jim Powers said.

Lansing is in the midst of a contentious debate about the legalization of marijuana and the proliferation of dispensaries and provisioning centers throughout the city. Mayor Virg Bernero and City Council members could be just weeks away from establishing a moratorium and ordinance — the city's second since 2008 — that gives them a tighter grip on the issue.

 

Wiborn said doesn't have a problem with move oversight. She is hopeful that more acceptance of medical marijuana and higher standards for Lansing area establishments will lead to better products and more licensed caregivers that can help her get the cannabis oil she needs. She believes the oil, taken orally, has done more to rid her esophagus, stomach, kidneys and lungs of cancer in recent months than chemotherapy ever did.

"People my age think marijuana is just to get high," Wiborn said. "If you don't try it (for medical reasons), you don't know."

Lansing's City Council will hold a special meeting  May 12 to hear input about a proposed moratorium on dispensaries and provisioning centers. Council members could vote on the measure that night. If approved, the moratorium would put a stop to all dispensaries and medical marijuana "establishments" that open after 11:59 p.m. May 12.

A proposed ordinance could require all existing dispensaries and new ones to get new licenses before a cap on those businesses is met or by a certain date set by the city. At-large Council Member Carol Wood said last week she's hopeful that a new ordinance will be approved and be ready for enforcement by July. The City Attorney's Office is currently reviewing a draft of an ordinance that's based on ones created by Ann Arbor and Muskegon officials. The ordinance is expected to reviewed by Wood, 3rd Ward Council Member Adam Hussain and At-large Council Member Kathie Dunbar at the May 13 Committee on Public Safety meeting.

 

Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 allows use of marijuana for medical reasons by person who have been authorized by a physician to hold a state-issued medical marijuana card.

Since marijuana provisioning centers are technically illegal in Michigan, the city's attorneys informed council members in 2011 that any centers open would operate at their own peril. In 2013, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that dispensaries can be shut down using the state's public nuisance law.

Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.

Lansing's cannabis festival

The Extreme Cannquest Expo's final day is Sunday at the Causeway Bay Hotel in Lansing, 6820 S Cedar S. The expo closes at 7 p.m. with an awards show. General admission tickets are $25. For more information, visit expo.hybrid.life or call (517) 694-8123.

Marijuana moratorium, ordinance

City Council will meeting 5 p.m. May 12 on the floor of City Hall to hear input about a proposed moratorium on dispensaries and provisioning centers. Council could approve the measure that night and then focus on creation of a new ordinance. Council members are expected to discuss the ordinance 3:30 p.m. May 13 at City Hall. Both meetings are open to the public. 

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/04/30/lansing-cannquest-expo/83697194/