[420 Girl]

HAZEL PARK, MI. — Several groups interested in setting up medical marijuana facilities want to bring their business to Hazel Park.

"These groups are interested in doing everything from education on medical marijuana to actually growing marijuana," City Manager Ed Klobucher said.

Statewide, many other communities are doing what they can to block medical marijuana businesses.

Hazel Park leaders say they are looking at how legal marijuana businesses might benefit the community, but need

to research the issue first.

"This could be more business for the city," Klobucher said. "Among the things we are looking at is what the economic impact of these medical marijuana facilities might be in our community."

Klobucher cautioned that there is a lot of legal confusion and contradiction since Michigan voters in November 2008 approved medical marijuana. He said the city wants to regulate medical marijuana facilities in a way that doesn't create problems in the community or cause a conflict with the new state law.

"This is a very hot topic and there are a lot of factors to consider in how we come to grips with it," he said. "The whole thing is a giant stumbling block because there is a lot of ambiguity in the law, what it means and what is permitted."

Medical marijuana users get a license from the Michigan Department of Community Health once they get a doctor's recommendation. The law allows a patient or a patient caregiver to possess up to 2.5 ounces or 12 plants per patient. The plants have to be kept in a locked area and the caregiver cannot service more than five patients at a time.

The sale of medical marijuana is prohibited, though a caregiver may be paid for services related to assisting a patient.

Thus far, some communities that have created ordinances for medical marijuana facilities have focused on zoning laws that would affect people growing marijuana for one or more qualified patients.

In Livonia, city officials recently passed an ordinance prohibiting any business that violates local, state or federal law without mentioning medical marijuana. Some believe the ordinance is an attempt to ban any medical marijuana facilities there since marijuana, under federal law, is still illegal.

Though federal agencies consider marijuana an illegal drug, the Obama administration recently indicated it would not move against medical marijuana growers who are in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. Michigan is the 13th state nationwide to pass such a law.

Hazel Park City Attorney Jan Drumm is working with the city planner on a proposed medical marijuana ordinance that the city Planning Commission is set to consider at its Feb. 16 meeting. The ordinance includes zoning and special land use requirements, along with security regulations.

The City Council will then decide whether to approve whatever zoning ordinance the Planning Commission recommends.

"I think the problem for all municipalities is that we have a state (medical marijuana) law that was passed in violation of federal law," Drumm said.

Michigan communities are now on the horns of a legal dilemma.

"The question is how to implement this in our communities," Drumm said. "Nobody wants to be the first one to step up and go further than the requirements or prohibit something that's been allowed under the law."

Legal challenges to community ordinances governing medical marijuana are expected because communities lack a state attorney general's opinion on how they are supposed to implement a law approved by voters rather than by statute.

"A lot of us are waiting for an attorney general's opinion," Drumm said.


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