[420 Girl]

SOUTHGATE — Members of the Downriver Community Conference are looking into developing a unified ordinance regarding medical marijuana.

Downriver communities, like many municipalities across Michigan are struggling with regulation of medical marijuana, dispensaries, growing warehouses, patient care, caregiver clubs and medical marijuana schools.

Michigan voters approved marijuana use as a medicine in 2008, but the law on what municipalities should do to accommodate it is vague.

According to the state, there have been about 53,400 applications from patients requesting the use of marijuana since 2009 and about 26,400 were approved.

Businesses to support those people are looking for cities where they can set up facilities to handle the marijuana.

Lincoln Park Mayor Frank Vaslo asked DCC staff to survey member communities about medical marijuana ordinances. He would like to see communities unify a plan to deal with the issue.

Vaslo said he’s had requests for warehouses in his city and he’d like an ordinance to address the zoning issues, but he doesn’t have a model to base it on.

“There is a big divergence on what each community is doing,” Vaslo said.

Several cities Downriver already have drafted their own ordinances.

Melvindale, Trenton, Southgate and Wyandotte recently revised ordinances to accommodate and restrict marijuana distribution facilities.

Southgate’s ordinance, for example, prohibits a “medical marijuana facility” within 500 feet of a house of worship, public or private educational facilities, a boundary of a residential district, or a public recreational area or library.

Wyandotte’s amended zoning ordinance does not actually address marijuana, but instead prohibits the licensing of any business that is in violation of local, state or federal laws. While possession of medical marijuana might be legal in Michigan, it still violates federal law.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The News Herald: Breaking news coverage for Southgate, MI
Author: Rene Cizio
Contact: The News Herald: Breaking news coverage for Southgate, MI
Copyright: 2010 The News Herald
Website:The News Herald: Breaking news coverage for Southgate, MI


http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...gulations.html