Michigan City Ponders Medical Marijuana Business
May 18th, 2009 by Rick
Yet another loophole within the current medical marijuana laws has been addressed, this time in Royal Oaks, Michigan. Mayor Jim Ellison says information is being gathered to draft an ordinance that will allow caregivers to grow medical marijuana for up to five patients.
Apparently zoning has become an issue, none of the dispensaries would be allowed in the central business district, the downtown heart of Royal Oaks, but the caregivers would be permitted to set up their business within the general district business area.
A meeting was held last Tuesday, where various viewpoints were shared. Christe Langdeau, one of the attendees that spoke in favor of the ordinance said:
I’ve had the misfortune to see friends die without medicine, and the only thing that can help them is medical marijuana. [...] Many patients are not able to get out of bed. How can they grow their own?
Only one of the speakers, Richard Kozlowski, was against the ideas of having caregivers be able to run a medical marijuana business:
If the city is going to allow caregivers to grow medical marijuana in the general business district, it should also allow it in the central business district.
Kozlowski was concerned with the fact that the dispensaries would be allowed to be set up near private homes and would become as popular as a drug store and gas station, one on every corner.
Obviously certain aspects of the medical marijuana laws need tweaking but it’s good to see someone taking control. Since it is a state law, the state should have thought about taking care of that when they created the bill that became a law. It’s just another prime example of federal, state and local government always passing the buck.
