Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jun 2011 Source: Holland Sentinel (MI) Copyright: 2011 GateHouse Media, Inc. Contact: http://extra.hollandsentinel.com/submitletter.shtml Website: http://www.hollandsentinel.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1145 Author: Gary Brower, The Holland Sentinel COMMUNITIES STRUGGLE WITH FUZZY MARIJUANA LAWS Holland, MI - In November 2008, 79 percent of the voters in Douglas approved the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. That same day, voters in Holland Township were split, with half voting for the bill and half voting against it. Given the nature of the two municipalities, the disparity is not surprising. Yet, two-and-a-half years later, officials in the liberal coastline town in Allegan County and the conservative enclave in Ottawa County appear to be on the same page in regard to the controversial law. Last month, the Holland Township Board of Trustees unanimously passed a licensing ordinance and amended a zoning ordinance that bans medical marijuana dispensaries in the township. The new mandate limits the growth and distribution of medical marijuana to caregivers and patients, who must do so in their own homes. "I think the impetus is (the board) doesn't think dispensaries are correct. They just don't think they are allowed under the law," said Jon Mersman, Holland Township zoning administrator. "It was never the intent of the voters to provide for the distribution in a commercial venue of medical marijuana. The intent was to grow your own." Ryan Kilpatrick, zoning administrator in Douglas, said the city's planning commission is working on an ordinance that would essentially regulate medical marijuana as a home-based business. If approved, the ordinance would have the same effect on dispensaries as those approved in Holland Township -- it would outlaw them. State law lacks direction It's not that community leaders in Douglas are philosophically against medical marijuana or would intentionally circumvent the will of city residents, but Kilpatrick said the Medical Marijuana Act doesn't offer any direction regarding marijuana dispensaries. "The state-enabling statute has not weighed in on whether a commercial dispensary is legal or not. I think it would be premature for us to get into that," he said. "What a lot of communities have done that have allowed it, is to treat primary caregivers essentially as operating a major home occupation." Wednesday, the city of Holland ended a moratorium by adopting an ordinance that bans medical marijuana dispensaries and severely limits where a state qualified caregiver can set up shop as a home-based business. Many municipalities in the Holland area are taking a wait-and-see approach to medical marijuana, hoping state legislators will follow through on their promise to revisit the law now that the state budget process is over. Those communities have enacted temporary moratoriums banning medical marijuana dispensaries. "What we've been hoping through a lot of this is for a little more clarification," said Zeeland City Manager Tim Klunder, where a marijuana moratorium expired at the end of May, but is likely to be reinstated Monday. "We don't want to be the first (to enact an ordinance), and we don't want to be the last." Moratoriums questioned At least one expert on medical marijuana thinks municipalities might be doing their voters a disservice, and perhaps skating on legal thin ice, if they use a moratorium as a way to avoid addressing the issue. "(Moratoriums) are OK, but they are not an answer. Sooner or later, when it comes to moratoriums, you are going to get a claim by someone that it is not the proper use of a moratorium to simply avoid your job," said attorney Mike Woodworth, president of The Hubbard Law Firm in Lansing. "Moratoriums have been recognized in other settings as a legitimate thing for municipalities to do so they can properly study what their community values are, what their concerns are and where they can get input. "It makes sense to have a moratorium, not to wait to see what happens to someone, but to study what your goals are in respect to medical marijuana," he continued. "I fear what is happening is that some are simply adopting a moratorium and saying, ‘Let's see what (another) township does and how that works for them.' It's a very tempting approach to take. Nobody wants to bungee jump until they see the first three guys ahead of them." Other local municipalities joining the cities of Holland and Zeeland in enacting moratoriums include Fillmore Township, Heath Township, Park Township, Zeeland Township and Saugatuck Township. Saugatuck Township officials said it is a response to the recently opened dispensary The Turtle Emporium. Business fights back Representatives of Patient Solutions 420, a medical marijuana dispensary in Holland Township, said the township board was specifically trying to put them out of business with the approval of its recent licensing ordinance. Lawyers representing the dispensary have filed a Michigan Open Meetings Act violation suit against the township board, the township supervisor and each individual board member in an effort to have the ordinance repealed. Dispensary representatives also are leading a petition drive to try to get Holland Township's ordinance repealed. Other lawsuits have popped up around the state, very few of which have been resolved. Woodworth, who said he voted for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, said the act, and the ensuing lawsuits, have at least accomplished one very important task. "Marijuana has been there forever," he said. "If there is one positive thing of the Medical Marijuana Act, it forces us to confront the fact, which we have all known, that marijuana has been within our community for years." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.