[420 Girl]

If Traverse City wants to decide how it will handle requests for medical marijuana outlets it needs to get the job done, and now.

Otherwise, officials run the risk of simply reacting if someone decides to go ahead and open a facility. The group Grand Traverse Compassionate Connection has already made a request for an outlet in the city's Warehouse District.

This is hardly new; and frankly, the city is already well behind the curve. State voters approved the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in 2008. It allows cancer and other patients who want to use marijuana to deal with the effects of chemotherapy or persistent pain to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 plants.

The law also allows designated caregivers to grow and distribute plants to up to five patients. As of April 2, the Michigan Department of Community Health had issued about 12,300 patient registrations and more than 5,000 caregiver licenses from nearly 24,000 applications.

Given those kinds of numbers it's a minor miracle someone licensed by the state hasn't already opened a facility here and let the city catch up.

Michael Thue, who runs Grand Traverse Compassionate Connection, the group that wants to open in the Warehouse District, said the outlet wouldn't be just a distribution point; he said the group would provide a "safe haven" for patients to learn about medical marijuana use, sample different strains and learn how to grow plants.

That's all fine and good. But the reality is that Thue may be just the kind of person the city doesn't want to run a marijuana distribution facility.

He has at least three arrests in Grand Traverse County dating back to 1999 and has spent more than three years in prison on breaking and entering and fleeing and eluding convictions; he has also been convicted of marijuana use, weapons possession, theft and other offenses.

This isn't about Michael Thue, per se. But it is about who gets to decide who opens and runs such facilities, where they can locate and other ground rules — the city commission or individuals licensed by the state who are tired of waiting for the locals to act.

Closing down a facility providing a state-licensed service after the fact would likely be a lot harder than writing ordinances first and then enforcing them.

City Attorney Karrie Zeits said the city could enact a temporary moratorium to buy time to weigh its options. That can only go so far. The city does not want to end up in a court fight with individuals licensed by the state who want to provide a state-approved service but can't only because the city hasn't gotten around to writing its own rules.

The city must act before it has to react. The clock is ticking.

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