[420 Girl]

Livonia, Michigan - Medical marijuana may be legal in Michigan, but anyone wishing to open a dispensary or grow marijuana for medical purposes in Livonia will need to look elsewhere.

At least that is the intent of an ordinance amended in December by the City Council. The ordinance only added innocuous-looking language that prohibits uses for enterprises or purposes that are contrary to federal, state or local laws or ordinances.

An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that his office intends to “keep an eye” on the interpretation and enforcement of that ordinance.

LINKED TO CRIME
Police Chief Robert Stevenson said he brought the issue to the mayor's attention after conversations with an official with the Drug Enforcement Agency.

“We've been doing research on what has happened in California since the law was passed,” Stevenson said. “There's been a lot of violence out there, B&Es, shootings and murders at some of the dispensaries.”

Rich Isaacson, public information officer with the DEA, said the impact of dispensaries was clear and a “point beyond debate” in terms on the effect in the neighborhood. “What we've observed is the crime rate increased in neighborhoods where the dispensaries were,” Isaacson said.

According to a white paper at the California Police Chiefs Association, these operations “have been tied to organized criminal gangs, foster large grow operations, and are often multimillion-dollar profit centers.

“Because they are repositories of valuable marijuana crops and large amounts of cash, several operators of dispensaries have been attacked and murdered by armed robbers both at their storefronts and homes, and such places have been regularly burglarized,” the Web site reported.
VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW

City Attorney Don Knapp said the city has had phone inquiries, but no petitions for medical marijuana dispensaries. “Marijuana dispensaries violate federal law,” Knapp said. “We're not dealing with it from a licensing or occupational standpoint; we're dealing with it from a zoning perspective.”

One of the problems with the act is that it does not address dispensaries or locations where marijuana can be obtained by state-certified patients or caregivers, which leaves it open to interpretation by the municipalities themselves.

Knapp said the law is poorly written. “What they intended to do and what they did are two different things from a zoning perspective,” Knapp said.
The city is not going to approve a business that is in violation of federal law, Stevenson said. California has issued a moratorium because of the problems with the issue, Stevenson said.

“This isn't aimed at the legitimate use of medical marijuana or the legal use of it; it is only aimed at the businesses of the dispensaries,” Stevenson said. “It's a quality-of-life issue for the residents of Livonia. We're not allowing something to come into the city that will be detrimental to the residents.”

‘WILL OF THE PEOPLE'
Dan Korobkin, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan, said dispensaries and medical marijuana use are allowed under state law, which voters approved on a 63-percent vote in 2008. “We're going to keep a close eye on how (the ordinance) is interpreted and enforced in Livonia,” Korobkin said. “It was a pretty overwhelming majority of state voters who approved this (proposal). The city of Livonia is not allowed to overturn the will of the people in a state vote.”

Korobkin said communities have a right to regulate businesses, but do not have the right to prohibit an activity provided under state law.

“We'll have to keep on an eye on the decisions of the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Commission on a case-by-case basis,” Korobkin said, should the city receive any applications for dispensaries. “Our position is pretty clear. Voters approved the right for patients to use medical marijuana and for caregivers to be paid for their services, and it can't be overturned by a community.”

The police chief was asked if the ordinance circumvented what voters wanted in approving the medical marijuana act. Stevenson said: “I think that more than 60 percent of the voters in Livonia don't want these problems in the city of Livonia.

“This is aimed at businesses, not individuals. We're not stopping them from getting (marijuana) if they have a state ID. There are other options.”
Several other communities, including Garden City, Plymouth Township and Warren, requested copies of Livonia's ordinance, Stevenson said.


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