Pubdate: Tue, 7 Sep 2010
Source: Morning Sun (Mt. Pleasant, MI)
Copyright: 2010 Morning Sun
Contact:   http://www.themorningsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3938
Author: Mark Ranzenberger
Referenced: The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act 
http://drugsense.org/url/8mvr7sW8
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

LAKE ISABELLA ADOPTS MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATIONS

The village of Lake Isabella has become the first mid-Michigan 
community to adopt an ordinance regulating medical marijuana distribution.

Village Manager Tim Wolff said the Village Council adopted a law that 
classifies an individual medical marijuana caregiver as a "home 
occupation," not subject to further village review. At the same time, 
it outlaws medical marijuana dispensaries, where groups of caregivers 
provide medical marijuana to groups of patients.

"The law seems to be intended to have a very personal relationship 
between the patient and caregiver," Wolff said. A registered 
caregiver, who cultivates marijuana under the voter-passed law, would 
have to comply with the law.

But Wolff said the Lake Isabella Planning Commission had problems 
with the idea of a dispensary.

"We don't think that a dispensary is legal under the Michigan Medical 
Marijuana Act," Wolff said. The term is not mentioned in the law.

"A dispensary would, honestly, be an inviting site for crime," he said.

Dispensaries have opened in some communities, including Mt. Pleasant, 
and have been subject to legal challenges. A court case involving the 
Compassionate Apothecary, a dispensary that opened in downtown Mt. 
Pleasant, is pending.

Wolff said the planners exhaustively documented their research into 
the effects on neighborhoods of medical marijuana dispensaries. He 
said that might be necessary if the village's law is challenged in court.

"The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act is so vague it probably invites 
litigation," Wolff said.

The law, adopted by voters in 2008, passed overwhelmingly statewide 
and in the area that includes Lake Isabella. Village voters in that 
election voted in Sherman or Broomfield townships, and it's not 
possible to break out the vote for village, but Wolff noted that the 
initiative passed by more than a 60 percent margin in both townships.

He said it's clear that the law, meant to provide a way for people 
suffering from chronic pain to obtain a drug they feel might be the 
only way to provide that relief, has support. But, he noted, the 
Michigan law appears to conflict with federal law, and the process of 
sorting things out is only beginning.

The changes in the village zoning ordinance are part of an overall 
revamp of the law that regulates home-based businesses, Wolff said.

Lake Isabella, when it incorporated 12 years ago, simply adopted the 
language of the Sherman Township zoning law. Since then, the village 
has gradually updated the law to meet its own needs.

The former law put restrictions on many home occupations, such as 
hairdressers, tax preparers or people engaged in e-commerce.

"Why make them jump through hoops when they have no impact on the 
neighbors?" Wolff said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake