[420 Girl]

MI - The issue of medical marijuana clinics is back on the agenda Monday for the City Commission, which will hash out three options: take steps to allow the facilities in business districts, ban them under federal law, or adopt a 90-day moratorium and deal with it later.

City Manager Donald Johnson said the issue was pulled from the agenda last week to let elected officials focus on the $16 million budget shortfall then placed back on it Friday.

“I think we’ll follow the lead of Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township and pass a moratorium,” Johnson said. “This is a fresh issue for the City Commission and everyone seems to feel we need to take a long, rational look at it. A moratorium lets people know we won’t be approving any clinics until it’s over.”

Mayor Jim Ellison and City Commissioner Michael Andrzejak, who also sit on the Plan Commission, did vote to recommend the City Commission limit caregiver clinics to general business districts at the planning panel’s March 9 meeting.

However, the mayor said the City Commission needs to concentrate on balancing the 2010-2012 budget, which has to be adopted by July 1. The moratorium will keep the budget at the forefront of their upcoming meetings and give elected officials time to mull zoning changes for the clinics or the ban recommended by Police Chief Christopher Jahnke.

The police chief wants Royal Oak to follow Livonia and prohibit businesses in violation of federal law. This proposed ordinance would essentially ban medical marijuana clinics because federal law prohibits the possession and delivery of marijuana even for medical uses.

Last year U.S. Attorney Eric Holder directed federal prosecutors from pursuing cases against patients and their sanctioned suppliers in the 14 states that allow medical marijuana.

However, Jahnke said he is concerned more about local crime because medical marijuana dispensaries have been shown “to cause harmful secondary effects on the public health, safety and welfare of communities.”

In a letter to the City Commission, Jahnke points to California, where law enforcement compiled problems in a 2009 report called “White Paper on Marijuana Dispensaries.” Citing the White Paper, the police chief gives a synopsis of what he expects to happen in Royal Oak

Jahnke said the business districts, which are on Woodward Avenue and North Main Street, and parts of Coolidge Highway and 14 Mile Road, as well as adjoining neighborhoods will see increases in: burglaries, robberies for money and drugs, assaults, thefts, loitering, driving under the influence of drugs, street dealers recruiting customers, registered card holders selling medical marijuana to non-card holders, and even organized crime.

Some elected officials share the police chief’s concerns and are leaning toward a ban; others say by setting restrictions Royal Oak can minimize problems while respecting voters who overwhelmingly legalized medical marijuana in 2008.

“Nobody is really ready to approve anything yet,” the city manager said. “I expect they will go with the moratorium.”

The City Commission meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 211 E. Williams St.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...cs-likely.html