Dispensary Dilemma

[bobandtorey]

An already complicated battle over Lansing’s medical marijuana industry has gotten even more controversial with the appointment of James Smiertka as the new Lansing city attorney. 

Smiertka appears to be at odds with the administration of Mayor Virg Bernero over allowing dispensaries to operate in the city.

Dispensary patients and operators have consistently told the Lansing City Council’s Committee on Public Safety that the businesses regularly sell medical marijuana to anyone with a state issued medical marijuana card. They also have said dispensaries regularly accept overgrowth of pot from caregivers for sale.

Both actions conflict with state court rulings that have deemed that a caregiver must provide the medicine for only five registered patients and are prohibited from transferring overage to other caregivers. The overage results from being able to grow 12 plants per patient at any one time — often more than a patient can consume.

“If this is what is going on, then each of these locations has been consistently breaking the law,” Smiertka said at the end of a nearly hour-long meeting with the activist group Rejuvenating South Lansing. “It seems pretty easy to me. I would just file a lawsuit against all of them.”

Such a move would conflict with Bernero’s benign neglect approach to the growing industry.

Most of Lansing’s 40-some dispensaries closed in 2011 after the Appeals Court found the state law did not provide for them. But as Bernero’s hands-off approach became clear, an estimated 70 storefront dispensaries opened throughout the city before the mayor finally agreed this year with the Chamber of Commerce and members of City Council that a moratorium was in order. He said the state has failed the people, leaving municipalities like Lansing a skeleton of legal framework on which to build legislation. 

Emerald City is one of some 70 dispensaries that are operating in Lansing despite court rulings that the new city attorney, James Smiertka, says makes them illegal.

Todd Heywood/City Pulse

 

Bernero, who appointed Smiertka as city attorney late last month, said he is following the marching orders of local voters who overwhelming approved a charter amendment to decriminalize small amounts of personal use marijuana as well as to approve the medical marijuana act.

“The people have spoken, overwhelmingly, in favor of decriminalization and normalization,” Bernero said in an interview last week.

Lansing Police Chief Michael Yankowski said in an interview with City Pulse a month ago that marijuana enforcement is not a priority for the department at this time. He said police are focusing on combating violent crime and the heroin epidemic in the city.

But that hasn’t stopped police from investigating dispensaries when they receive information to act on. Yankowski said the department has presented cases to prosecutors, and in some instances charges were brought, but not in others.

With small amounts of marijuana possession legal under the city charter, the most likely charges against dispensaries would involve intent to deliver — a trafficking charge. That would require criminal charges by the Prosecutor’s Office.

Billie Jo O’Berry, an assistant city attorney and a Republican candidate for prosecutor, told the Rejuvenating South Lansing group that the lack of enforcement was a county issue.

“At some point, your county prosecutor and your county sheriff decided not to enforce this law,” she said.

The mayor said he had been waiting on the Legislature to act on bills that would legalize dispensaries and create a system for caregivers to share and sell overages; but that hasn’t happened. In fact, Sen Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, thought just before the Legislature left for summer break that the Senate would act on pending legislation. Instead, he said, the GOP caucus that controls the chamber rejected the plan because some had issues with allowing for edible marijuana products as part of the measure.

As a result, it’s fallen on the City Council to find a way to regulate the business, which means balancing between what courts have ruled is legal and what dispensary owners say allows them to make a profit.

Carol Wood, chairwoman of the Committee on Public Safety, said the Council has been trying to wrap its arms around regulations for months. At first, the committee reviewed a zoning ordinance that would have limited where medical marijuana establishments could operate.

“That wasn’t enough,” Wood said. “We have heard from people that they want licensing.”

So the issue was sent back to then City Attorney Janene McIntyre. In March, the first of a series of licensing ordinance drafts was presented to the committee. Changes were made and questions asked. Wood seemed positive that an ordinance could be adopted by the end of summer. 

But in June, the committee was informed by interim City Attorney Joseph Abood that the draft ordinance would be unenforceable in court. The reason? A recent Court of Appeals ruling that prohibits the transfer of marijuana between caregivers and strictly enforces the one caregiver for five registered patients rules.

That ruling, said Smiertka, makes it difficult to understand how dispensaries are legally and economically viable.

“I can’t believe that money is there because there is one caregiver giving it to five patients,” he said.

Abood was given until Friday to return to the committee with an enforceable licensing ordinance or a plan to shut the dispensaries down. But that was when Abood appeared headed toward a long-term appointment to the post. Now that Smiertka has officially been appointed and started the job, Wood has given him until July 22 to come up with a plan.

For his part, the new city attorney said he is just starting to get into the medical marijuana issues, which he called “very complicated.” He told members of Rejuvenating South Lansing that he believed a combination of zoning and nuisance law enforcement could bring the industry under control.

“There’s a provision in the act that you can grow your own marijuana, but that’s restricted. So if that’s being grown under that, but it’s illegal because it’s being sold illegally or given away illegally to so-called patients, then you get into — first of all a violation of the statute — but it’s also a nuisance,” he said. “A public nuisance.”

This is not the city’s first attempt to regulate and license dispensaries. In 2011, during an earlier moratorium, it adopted an ordinance to license and regulate the facilities. It would have allowed 48 such businesses in the city. But then came the Appeals Court ruling, ultimately upheld by the state Supreme Court, that dispensaries were not legal under the Michigan medical marijuana act. Then City Attorney Brig Smith sent a letter to City Clerk Chris Swope directing him not to process license applications under the ordinance. He also sent letters to the dispensaries informing them of the ruling and that he believed their operations were illegal.

Thr upsurge in dispensaries in the last two years has prompted neighborhood groups to circulate petitions last fall calling on the city to regulate the businesses.

For his part, Bernero said those businesses are important. He said they had moved into, and improved, empty commercial properties.

“And they have created jobs. Jobs that are paying taxes,” he said.

Those two points, he said, are reason enough to move with caution. He supports legislation that will control the dispensary numbers through zoning enforcement.

“People are embarrassed having this in the commercial corridors,” he said. “I’m not. I believe we are moving marijuana out of the neighborhoods and that is making neighborhoods safer.”

 

http://lansingcitypulse.com/article-13393-Dispensary-dilemma.html

[imiubu]

Why would my Mayor appoint a city attorney that opposes him on this issue.

 

This article points to home growing in a negative light 2x's.

Again... who thinks they are NOT coming for our home grow rights?

 

“There’s a provision in the act that you can grow your own marijuana, but that’s restricted. So if that’s being grown under that, but it’s illegal because it’s being sold illegally or given away illegally to so-called patients, then you get into — first of all a violation of the statute — but it’s also a nuisance,” he said. “A public nuisance.”

 

“People are embarrassed having this in the commercial corridors,” he said. “I’m not. I believe we are moving marijuana out of the neighborhoods and that is making neighborhoods safer.”

 

 

 

One of the members of the Rejuvenating South Lansing group came out to protest the first service held by the

First Cannabis Church of Logic and Reason.  If her message is a reflection of the premise this group is operating under...

well folks, we still have a ton of educating to do.  These are only one of the anti groups that are talking to Lansing city officials.

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/06/26/cannabis-church-debuts-lansing/86296314/

 

 

 

 

btw... come join us for Sunday service and pot luck, July 31 1-3 p.m.

[bax]

maybe you should join that group imi, and spy on them?

[suneday11]

Why would my Mayor appoint a city attorney that opposes him on this issue.

 

This article points to home growing in a negative light 2x's.

Again... who thinks they are NOT coming for our home grow rights?

 

“There’s a provision in the act that you can grow your own marijuana, but that’s restricted. So if that’s being grown under that, but it’s illegal because it’s being sold illegally or given away illegally to so-called patients, then you get into — first of all a violation of the statute — but it’s also a nuisance,” he said. “A public nuisance.”

 

“People are embarrassed having this in the commercial corridors,” he said. “I’m not. I believe we are moving marijuana out of the neighborhoods and that is making neighborhoods safer.”

 

 

 

One of the members of the Rejuvenating South Lansing group came out to protest the first service held by the

First Cannabis Church of Logic and Reason. If her message is a reflection of the premise this group is operating under...

well folks, we still have a ton of educating to do. These are only one of the anti groups that are talking to Lansing city officials.

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/06/26/cannabis-church-debuts-lansing/86296314/

 

 

 

 

btw... come join us for Sunday service and pot luck, July 31 1-3 p.m.

rejuvenate south lansing

 

Facilitator and Founder

​

Elaine Womboldt

Phone: 517-393-0317

Send email

Social Media Outreach Coordinator

Melissa S. Quon Huber, Ph.D.

Phone: 517-394-3996

Send email

Support Assistant

​

Adam Hussain

Phone: 517-528-2218

Send email

City Council Liaison

​

Carol Wood

Phone: 517- 483-4188

 

Wood and Hussein associated with this bs....f-ing figures. Got on the lines, folks. Make their weekend hell!

Edited July 8, 2016 by suneday11

[bax]

Melissa S. Quon Huber, Ph.D. ?

 

PLAY Project Home Consultation intervention program for young children with autism spectrum disorders: a randomized controlled trial.

Quon Huber MS

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4181375/

 

interesting autism hole goes deep. i bet she didnt take too kindly to marijuana for autism.

 

Averill Woods Neighborhood Association President Melissa Quon Huber

 

http://www.averillwoods.org/leadership-team.html

http://www.lansingneighborhoods.org/board.html

https://www.lansingmi.gov/media/view/NeighborhoodContactSheetMarch2016/9478

 

shes been around a while

http://hempbeach.com/dozens-speak-out-on-lansing-marijuana-proposal/

 

Melissa Quon-Huber, president of the Averill Woods Neighborhood Association, said she is concerned Lansing is adopting more lenient regulations for medical marijuana than many other communities in the region. She said that means many dispensaries will gravitate to Lansing. “We could potentially be the area that serves all of mid-Michigan,” she said. “It’s important that we get this right.”

[outsideinthecold]

Given the revelation opioid use and addiction for chronic pain decreases by 2/3rd when patients are given access to medical marijuana, any reasonably educated person, let alone a PhD should know better.

 

What is the biggest fear these indoctrinated Prohibitionists have?

 

That MMJ works.

[bobandtorey]

LANSING — Jim Smiertka has been Lansing's city attorney for less than a week, but said Friday he and his staff should be ready to create a third draft of the city's proposed medical marijuana ordinance by the end of this month.

Smiertka, three City Council members and Deputy City Attorney Mark Dotson met Friday afternoon at City Hall for council's Committee on Public Safety meeting to share ideas and hear public comment about the complicated matter. About 20 people attended the meeting.

The third draft of the ordinance, which Smiertka expects to have completed for a July 22 meeting, could include creation of an advisory board of people with "professional knowledge" of the topic.The 3:30 p.m. meeting on the 10th floor of City Hall will be open to the public.

 

We're not saying we're going to come back with that," Smiertka said of the advisory board option. "But that's an area we may come back with. Who knows?" Smiertka emphasized that an advisory board would only serve as a consultant and not take legislative powers away from council.

Lansing's proposed ordinance, in its current form, doesn't appear ready for consideration by council because of several challenges brought up by owners, patients and caregivers. Lansing has a moratorium on the opening of new dispensaries, but city officials haven't pinned down how many dispensaries are located in the city. The moratorium went into effect May 12 and is backed by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Council members, including At-Large Member Carol Wood, and several residents who have voiced their opinions at public meetings for the past two months estimate there are at least 60 currently open.

Lansing and other Michigan municipalities have found it difficult to navigate around is Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008. The act allows use of marijuana for medical reasons by persons who have been authorized by a physician to hold a state-issued medical marijuana card. It also allows patients and caregivers to cultivate marijuana plants. But the original law did not mention dispensaries, also known as provisioning centers.

Lansing’s City Attorney's Office informed City Council in 2011 that any centers in the city would operate at their own peril.

 

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/07/08/lansing-medical-marijuana-ordinance/86876850/

[imiubu]

PAY ATTENTION! ---->>> "The third draft of the ordinance, which Smiertka expects to have completed for a July 22 meeting,

could include creation of an advisory board of people with "professional knowledge" of the topic.

 

Just who are these people with 'professional knowledge' and...  does anyone feel that these so called 'professionals'

support keeping our grow rights?  hmm.

[+Malamute]

Dispensary group NPRA is who wants it.

 

 From above article. Bob Just didn't post the whole article.

 

Robin Schneider, a legislative liaison for the National Patients Rights Association, suggested at the meeting that an advisory board should include patient advocates, neighborhood representatives and local law enforcement.

 

"It's possible to have appointees confirmed by the City Council if that's not something you're comfortable with," Schneider told public safety committee members. Schneider mentioned that Ann Arbor has found success with an advisory committee that has helped its city council craft and enforce a fair and legal medical marijuana ordinance

 

 

 I think we all know better than that...

 

Bullsshit runs deep round them thar parts.

 

Ann arbor went with the same "Home occupation" crud we are fighting in Lansing.

 

Gotta love them commercial advocates.

 

"What?,  you will allow dispensaries if we support making patients and caregivers have to get licensed and inspected? Hell yeah! we will support that privately. Just don't tell the patients and caregivers we are ok with it".

 

[+Malamute]

Ann Arbor ordinance:

 

 

 

"Medical marijuana home occupation" means an accessory use of a nonresidential nature that is conducted by a registered primary caregiver who resides in the dwelling and (A) is performed within a single-family dwelling or within an accessory building to that single-family dwelling; (B) is for the purpose of assisting one or more registered qualifying patients with the medical use of marijuana who do not reside in the dwelling and © complies with the MMMA.

 

(5) Cultivation or other medical use of marijuana as a medical marijuana home occupation in single-family dwellings.

a) In a single family dwelling in any zoning district, no more than 72 marijuana plants shall be grown on the premises, regardless of the number of registered primary caregivers and/or registered qualifying patients residing in the dwelling. The principal use of the single-family dwelling shall be a residential occupancy and shall be in actual use as such.

b) A zoning compliance permit shall be required, consistent with Section 5.92.

c) All other performance standards for home occupations as provided in Section 5:10.2(4)© shall be required.

[+Malamute]

Notice they don't allow outdoor growing as the Act allows as well.

[bobandtorey]

LANSING, Mich.(WLNS) – Time is running out in the city of Lansing as newly appointed City Attorney Jim Smiertka has only two days left to release a new draft of a controversial medical marijuana ordinance.

The move is critical. In June, Lansing City Council gave Smierkta a hard deadline warning that if they didn’t receive a draft by Friday they would ask the city to close up shops across the city for good.

Medical marijuana dispensaries, everywhere you look they’re popping up across the city of Lansing.

“They’re just all over the place and we need to have controls just like every other city has,” said Elaine Womboldt of Rejuvenating South Lansing.

Xyrish Ancero is a manager of healing tree, a dispensary in south Lansing.

Ancero says he’s all for the ordinance saying no regulation means no business.

“That would hurt me a lot I would have to be out of work for a while I would have to figure out something new. There’s always a plan but I wouldn’t want to go there,” said Ancero.

But Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero says the industry right now is in a “gray area” which is why it’s taking so long to create an enforceable ordinance.

“There’s a big gap between what the public passed and what current law allows and then our ordinance. there is all this gray that need to be filled in I think the city attorney is going to take a stab at filling that in,” said Mayor Virg Bernero.

And while the ordinance is still a work in progress city officials agree the move is a step in the right direction to keeping a lid on the budding industry in the capital city.

“We’re not done by any means the key to what you said is draft it is a draft and it’s going to be a continuing process,” said Mayor Bernero.

 

http://wlns.com/2016/07/20/days-away-from-looming-medical-marijuana-deadline/

[bobandtorey]

LANSING, Mich.(WLNS) As the marijuana dispensary debate continues in Lansing for months, we’ve been talking about an ordinance in Lansing is putting in overtime to pass.

And while the ordinance is still a work in progress there’s already a state statute in effect dealing with it and officials want the public to know you must abide by state law.

The 2008 Medical Marijuana Act and only allows caregivers to sell the medical drug to a total of 5 patients.

On Friday, the law will be in the spotlight when members of Lansing City Council will meet with Interim Prosecuting Attorney Gretchen Whitmer to ask some pressing questions about the law and if it’s being enforced in the city.

With a new Interim Prosecuting Attorney in command, Lansing City Council Member Carol Wood says she wants to make sure everyone in the city is on the same page when it comes to enforcement.

“What is your biggest question for prosecutor Whitmer? I think my biggest question is are you prosecuting medical marijuana cases?” said Council Member Carol Wood.

While the 2008 law is in place Wood says enforcement is still not an easy feat.

“The law and some of the rules and regulations were not well written and because of that many of us are trying to figure out how to have some type of enforcement,” said Wood.

But when it comes to putting a lid on the budding industry, Interim Prosecuting Attorney Gretchen Whitmer says her office does not  investigate violations of the act.

“Our role is when an investigation is brought to us from a local law enforcement agency then we take a look at it to see if we got sufficient evidence to bring charges,” said Whitmer.

6 News spoke with Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero who says right now there are not enough police officers on the streets to monitor the industry.

“The police department has a job to do answering 911 calls. I don’t have an extra force of 20 people to put on a marijuana Gestapo to shut down these dispensaries,” said Mayor Bernero.

 

http://wlns.com/2016/07/21/enforcing-medical-marijuana-law-proving-to-be-difficult-in-lansing/

[bobandtorey]

LANSING -- Enforcement of a medical marijuana ordinance would be a challenge for Lansing police, but not impossible, Police Chief Michael Yankowski said.

"Whatever role we're going to play, we'll be ready," Yankowski said Aug. 2 in an interview with the Lansing State Journal.

The proposed ordinance has been studied, debated and tweaked for several months by city officials, medical marijuana patients, patient advocacy groups, business owners, neighborhood organizations and lawyers to the point that a fifth draft is needed. That draft couldn't be completed by the end of this month.

Lansing police are involved in the push for an ordinance that stresses public safety and regulation of medical marijuana establishments because the city currently doesn't have one. Despite a May 12 moratorium on new provisioning centers and other establishments in the city, it's still unclear how many are open.

Yankowski said there have been "anywhere from 50 to 70" open in the past year. A Lansing State Journal reporter counted 55 open in the city by the end of last month.

If approved, Lansing's ordinance would regulate medical marijuana "establishments," including provisioning centers, growing facilities, processor facilities and safety compliance facilities. Provisioning centers are also known as dispensaries in the local marketplace.

More discussion about the ordinance will take place 2 p.m. Aug. 12 on the 10th floor of City Hall at council's Committee on Public Safety meeting. The meeting will be open to the public.

Police are studying how medical marijuana laws and ordinances are enforced nationally, in other Michigan cities and in Colorado, where recreational marijuana is legal and is regulated similar to alcohol. Officers aren't policymakers, but have given City Attorney Jim Smiertka and his staff suggestions of ways an ordinance could uphold public safety, Yankowski said.

Lansing police currently respond to complaints about provisioning centers and other medical marijuana establishments that are forwarded to the City Attorney's Office. Yankowski said there are enough resources within the department to determine the validity of each complaint.

The Police Department is currently down 20 officers, but Yankowski said he's optimistic that about 15 officers will be hired by Aug. 22. As of Aug. 2, the department had 182 sworn officers; it is authorized for 202. Even with the vacancies, Yankowski said the department can still meet its needs for road patrol and other duties, and it has eight of nine community policing officer positions filled.

If Lansing's ordinance is approved, violations could fall under the jurisdiction of the City Attorney's Office, Police Department, Fire Department Office of Code Enforcement or Building Safety Department. The Ingham County Health Department could also serve an enforcement role.

Randy Hannan, Mayor Virg Bernero's executive assistant, said Thursday in a meeting of Lansing's Financial Health Team members at Lansing Community College that the Fire Department is expected to hire about 20 new firefighters soon.

Police are concerned about several issues, including the inspections of facilities that sell medical marijuana and the testing of products like edibles and oils.

The City Council also is considering zoning regulations that prevent provisioning centers in residential neighborhoods and near churches, schools and daycare centers.

At-Large Council Member Carol Wood, chair of council's Committee on Public Safety, she sees an opportunity under a new medical marijuana ordinance for police to help crack down on provisioning centers that operate without city-issued licenses and violate laws already in place.

"Part of what we learn is that if we fix the broken windows, things just fall into place," said Wood, referring to provisioning centers operating outside laws and regulations. "For many of us (who live in neighborhoods), this has been our broken window."

Wood doesn't expect an ordinance to be passed by council's full eight-member body until mid-November -- at the earliest. It's unlikely an ordinance could be approved before then and start being enforced because the City Clerk's Office will be too busy with the Nov. 8 presidential and general elections to handle the anticipated workload.

Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 allows use of marijuana for medical reasons by persons who have been authorized by a physician to hold a state-issued medical marijuana card. It also allows patients and caregivers to cultivate marijuana plants. The city's proposed ordinance refers to marijuana as "marihuana" because it's the term used in the state law.

In 2013, Lansing voters passed a City Charter amendment that mandates nothing in the city's Code of Ordinances applies to the use, possession or transfer of less than once ounce of marijuana on private property by a person who is at least 21. However, provisioning centers and other establishments have operated in the city at their own peril because the medical marihuana statute did not mention dispensaries or set parameters for how they could operate.

If the proposed city ordinance stands in its current form, it would call for a five-member commission appointed by Bernero with council members' approval. Dispensary operators would apply for a license through the City Clerk's office, with applications reviewed by the commission.

Each application under the proposed ordinance would require a $5,000 fee. If an application is denied, the applicant would get $2,500 returned. If a license is issued, the first annual fee would be $10,000. To renew a license, an additional $10,000 fee would be required each year. Those who have their license renewals rejected would receive $5,000 of the renewal fee back.

The city currently doesn't assess fees. City officials have said publicly in meetings discussing the ordinance that assessing fees would likely cut down on the number of provisioning centers and other establishments. Under the proposed ordinance's fourth draft, there is no mention of a cap on the number of licenses the city would allow, although there had been previous discussion of caps.

"There's a lot of moving parts," Yankowski said of the proposed ordinance's progress. "I think we're getting closer and closer here in the city of Lansing to an ordinance that will work for all."

Ingham County Prosecutor Gretchen Whitmer attended a July 22 public safety committee meeting with Lisa McCormick, the county's chief assistant prosecutor, and explained that her office does its best to determine if medical marijuana cases sent to them by police are worthy of prosecution.

McCormick said in the meeting that Lansing police had not sent any cases to the Prosecutor's Office since 2011.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/08/03/lansings-marijuana-ordinance-could-enforceable-police-chief-says/87907506/

[bobandtorey]

LANSING -- It could take awhile before City Council votes on a proposed medical marijuana ordinance that's been changed, debated and delayed for several months.

Until a new ordinance is brought to Council's full eight-member body and approved, the city will continue following an ordinance created in 2011 that doesn't include a licensing process for medical marijuana dispensaries and other related establishments. It lets the facilities operate at their own peril.

Mayor Virg Bernero said this week now is not the time to panic about the lack of a new ordinance. He would prefer city officials take more time crafting regulations that follow recent changes in state law, ensure safety in neighborhoods and allow for economic development opportunities rather than rush approval of an ordinance that isn't well-researched, fair to business owners, caregivers and patients and is difficult to enforce.

“We need to be methodical, we need to be careful, we need to get it right," Bernero said this week. "We have the opportunity to set the standard around the state."

Related: East Lansing OKs pot smoking, possession of small quantities

At Monday's City Council meeting, a vote failed that would have held a public hearing this month to discuss potential repeal of the city's 2011 ordinance. The public hearing, which was proposed for Oct. 24, could have helped generate momentum for an eventual vote on the proposed new ordinance, currently on its sixth draft. The proposed ordinance has been reviewed for several months by council's three-member Committee on Public Safety.

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/10/12/lansing-marijuana-ordinance/91916198/

[bobandtorey]

At Friday's public safety meeting, the City Attorney's Office did share its ongoing efforts to enforce a city-wide moratorium that was set May 21. It prohibits new commercial establishments from opening after that date. The moratorium was first set on May 12, but pushed back to the 21st so the City Clerk's Office could prepare for it.

The office recently followed up on 17 complaints it received from the public about commercial establishments and found that none resulted in moratorium violations. The office's investigations continue, Deputy City Attorney Mark Dotson said.

"I am spending a lot of my days chasing down complaints," Dotson said.

Complaints about commercial medical marijuana establishments can be submitted by phone at (517) 483-4320 or by filling out a form at lansingmi.gov/393/Citizen-Complaints. The office is expected to provide another report at the public safety committee's Nov. 17 meeting on the 10th floor of City Hall. The 3:30 p.m. meeting is open to the public.

According the City Attorney's Office's records, complaints filed by the public and ranged from moratorium violations to public nuisance matters like odor and traffic problems. The office has relied on a variety of documentation and other sources to determine if establishments opened before or after the moratorium. The documentation has ranged from property leases, print advertisements, Facebook posts and statements from landlords to customer reviews from a website called Weedmaps.

At Friday's meeting, Dotson passed out copies of a letter he has distributed to establishments that have generated public complaints. The letter asks establishments to show within 10 businesses days of receiving the letter that they opened and began operating before May 21. It states that failure to do so will lead to "immediate action by the city."

In 2013, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that commercial establishments like provisioning centers or dispensaries could be shut down using the state's public nuisance law.

A proposed ordinance for commercial medical marijuana establishments could include zoning. A recent draft of that ordinance created by council's public safety committee and the city attorney's office mentions commercial establishments must be at least 1,000 feet from schools, child care centers, parks and playgrounds. Proposed zoning regulations also say medical marijuana establishments must be at least 500 feet away from other medical marijuana establishments, churches and substance abuse treatment centers.

Adam Macdonald, the National Patient Rights Association's board chairman, said he believes zoning is a bad way to chose who should open an establishment and who doesn't. He started the Detroit Medical Cannabis Guild, an organization that helped organize the recent founding of the Lansing Medical Cannabis Guild.

The Lansing guild has about 12 "business oriented" members, including a Lansing-based lab called ACT Labs that tests medical marijuana to make sure it's safe for state-registered patients, Macdonald said.

Macdonald said the Lansing guild's goal is to work with city officials, business owners and neighborhood groups to raise standards for the local industry and show how beneficial it can be for those who need it for medical reasons.

“It’s a baby industry and I think a lot of people are spooked by it," Macdonald said. "Hopefully consistency will win them over.”

Three bills signed into law in September by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appear to affect how cities like Lansing can regulate medical marijuana. The bills give local governments authority to regulate the location and number of medical marijuana provisioning centers and allow marijuana-infused products. The laws also allow for creation of a "seed-to-sale" tracking system to ensure that marijuana dispensed to state-approved patients has been tested for safety, create a Medical Marijuana Licensing Board, establish a framework for licensing fees and set annual assessments and a 3% tax on retail gross income.

Complaints about non-commercial medical marijuana operations, especially those in residential areas involving registered caregivers, are another aspect of the local industry that city officials are finding difficult to manage.

The city's Code Compliance Division does try to enforce zoning and home occupation ordinances for residential properties. The work becomes more difficult if its staff doesn't actually see public nuisance issues at properties or smell strong odors. Odors at homes are often the source of neighborhood complaints, Wood said.

"You don’t have a monitor out there that you can put in a neighbor's yard that says 'These odors are emitting from here,'" Wood said. "You have to have a live body."

State law allows a registered caregiver to have up to five patients with state-issued medical marijuana cards. The caregiver can grow up to 12 plants for each patient; the law requires plants to be kept in an "enclosed, locked facility."

Bernero said he believes home grow operations generate most of the public complaints, but doesn't believe there's any kind of widespread emergency in the city. Bernero has encouraged the Police Department to do spot checks in neighborhoods. Bernero supports the rights of caregivers and patients -- within the framework of state laws and local regulations.

LANSING -- Those eager to see City Council pass a medical marijuana ordinance for commercial medical marijuana provisioning centers -- also known as dispensaries -- will likely have to wait a few more months.

An often frustrating process for city officials, business owners, neighborhood groups, caregivers, patients and others remains on hold because the latest draft of the ordinance is under review by the Planning Board.

Creation of a residential ordinance that would set guidelines for registered caregivers and patients could take even longer.

"It's not easy to understand this," At-large Council Member Carol Wood said of the process.

Recent changes in state law have posed a challenge for Lansing as it tries to craft policies that are fair for everyone affected by the growing medical marijuana industry that, according to Wood, has led to the opening of over 70 unlicensed commercial establishments in the city.

As of Friday, Wood said in Council's Committee on Public Safety meeting there were 73 dispensaries open. She is the committee's chair and is hopeful it will receive more answers about the proposed ordinance's progress after the Planning Board's scheduled Dec. 6 meeting -- its final one of the year. The board's 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Neighborhood Empowerment Center, 600 W. Maple St., will be open to the public. Council next scheduled meeting after the Planning Board meeting is Dec. 12.

The proposed ordinance, if passed by council members, would require licenses for all commercial establishments.

Mayor Virg Bernero last week expressed confidence the city will soon create commercial and residential medical marijuana ordinances that are fair but don't penalize business owners, caregivers and patients who obey the law. If the city rushes to pass ordinances, it could set itself up for a flurry of legal challenges, Bernero said.

 

“I’m not willing to sacrifice quality for speed," Bernero said.

 

 

"We are getting there, and we need to get it right," Bernero said of the city's proposed ordinances.

Voters passed in 2013 a City Charter amendment that mandates nothing in the city's Code of Ordinances applies to the use, possession or transfer of less than once ounce of marijuana on private property by a person who is at least 21.

Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 allows use of marijuana for medical reasons by persons who have been authorized by a physician to hold a state-issued medical marijuana card. It also allows patients and caregivers to cultivate marijuana plants. But a lack of specifics created challenges that Lansing and other municipalities across the state.

 

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/11/08/lansing-marijuana-moratorium/93237676/

[blackhorse]

Thanks for the info.