Coldwater Township Considers Marijuana Dispensary Act

[bobandtorey]

COLDWATER TOWNSHIP — The 654 people in Branch County with valid Michigan Medical Marijuana cardS may have a dispensary in the county when the 2016 passed legislation goes into effect, pending finalization of licensing procedures.

 

Coldwater Township Supervisor Don Rogers asked his board to look into a township ordinance under the law to license grow operations and dispensaries.

 

We want the control," Rogers said. "We want to say where they can locate, when they operate, and how many. Then there is the revenue, up to $5,000 per year per license."

Townships and municipalities also receive 25 percent of the three state marijuana taxes on all legal transactions.

 

Lawmakers acted because the constitutional amendment passed by 63 percent failed to clarify rules for operating the law. Lawsuits by those wanting to dispense marijuana followed.

The bills passed the Michigan House 93-7 to legalize medical cannabis dispensaries, regulate cultivation and processing operations and allow for use of edibles or oils, rather than smokable marijuana.

The laws also include an additional category for cannabis-infused products, as well as an added tax on dispensaries and a state licensing system, which institutes a seed-to-sale monitoring system. It requires state licenses to cultivate, sell, transport and test cannabis.

What the law does not do is regulate the current system, where a person can grow up to 12 plants and possess no more than two-and-a-half ounces or run a "caregiver grow operation" for up to five permitted patients.

There are dozens of such operations in residential neighborhoods throughout Branch County. Those in Algansee Township and the city of Coldwater have been subject to break-ins and thefts over the last two years.

 

Rogers said a local ordinance "would take it out of the basements and neighborhoods, where there are no controls or regulation. To get (grow operations) out of houses where there are kids is a plus."

A former undersheriff, Rogers said now there is no regulation on how much is sold to whom.

"I don't like anything to do with marijuana," said Coldwater Township Treasurer Michael Sowles. "But it's a law, and we must deal with it."

Jeffrey Nemeth, CEO of Act Laboratories, who plans to apply for a license as a testing lab, told the township trustees, "It's medical use only. It's not recreational."

Only 2.5 ounces can be sold to a patient in a 10-day period.

 

The medical marijuana cannot be used in public or held within 1,000 feet of schools or daycare centers. The marijuana dispensed is tested in a lab for quality.

Nemeth recommended the township limit licensed grow operations and dispensaries to two. Rogers said he thought they should be industrial areas and limited hours to daylight, such as 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

 

We have total control," Rogers said. "We could have 10 growers on my street."

He pointed out that a Fox News report indicated research found marijuana did kill cancer.

Nemeth said that the way it operates today, a caregiver brings the drug to your house or you meet in a parking lot.

"I would not want that," he said.

A dispensary also requires the marijuana to be sold in child-proof bags.

"This new law provides safe access to our patients to get their medicine under a regulatory system that's taxed, monitored and regulated," Nemeth said.

Law enforcement will have access to the records, unlike now.

 

Robin Schneider, executive director of National Patients Rights, the organization which lobbied for the laws, said she became involved when a friend began suffering from cancer and had trouble finding marijuana in a form he could use to relieve his nausea.

Schneider said the whole goal of the new law "was to make it safer for the patients, safer for the community, for the neighborhoods, and more regulated to keep it away from our children."

As a mother of six, she said her children understand marijuana is a medicine.

The township, which has talked about the issue for several months, will consider an ordinance in the future.

 

http://www.thedailyreporter.com/news/20170211/coldwater-township-considers-marijuana-dispensary-act

 

 

[Restorium2]

 The 654 people in Branch County with valid Michigan Medical Marijuana cardS may have a dispensary in the county when the 2016 passed legislation goes into effect, pending finalization of licensing procedures.

 

That's the easy part, the hard part is actually having some decent cannabis to sell. That's always been the hard part. 

[Wild Bill]

Robin Schneider, executive director of National Patients Rights, the organization which lobbied for the laws, said she became involved when a friend began suffering from cancer and had trouble finding marijuana in a form he could use to relieve his nausea.

Schneider said the whole goal of the new law "was to make it safer for the patients, safer for the community, for the neighborhoods, and more regulated to keep it away from our children."

 

Thanks Robin! Because it was so dangerous before dispensaries. School kids and old folks becoming addicts due to unregulated marihuana.

 

The child proof bags are a nice touch too. Lord knows it's next to impossible for a child to open a plastic bag.

[cristinew]

Safe Safe Safe  Sell me a wall to why dont ya.

[Greg Rx]

1) 63% did not vote for a constitutional amendment, if they did we would not have these changes.

2) This will NOT effect caregivers. Those laws remain the same except the five pt limit is legitimized. 

3)" no regulation on how much is sold to whom." really?