Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jul 2011
Source: Lansing State Journal (MI)
Copyright: 2011 Lansing State Journal
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/qbTWpGoq
Website: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/232
Author: Lindsay VanHulle
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Dispensaries

MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES NOT TO EXCEED 48, LANSING PANEL DECIDES

City Council Might Vote Next Week on Issue

No more than 48 medical marijuana businesses would be allowed in 
Lansing under a plan approved by a City Council committee Thursday.

That would include the 48 businesses recognized before a citywide 
moratorium took effect in December 2010, provided they are still 
operating and meet license requirements.

Medical marijuana businesses also would have to pay an application 
fee of $1,000 and $75 for each background check in addition to the applicant's.

The full council could adopt the proposal Monday, which would 
complete a policy regulating Lansing's emerging medical marijuana 
industry. The cap and fee schedule would be renewed next year.

A cap of 48 is "legally the safest way to play it," City Attorney 
Brig Smith said. That would mean some of the businesses won't 
arbitrarily be forced to move.

But Smith said he doesn't anticipate a problem with the threshold.

Some dispensary groups have said as few as 31 of the original 48 
still could be operating. As of Thursday, 11 had filed preliminary 
applications due by the end of the week, City Clerk Chris Swope said.

Public Safety Committee members A'Lynne Robinson and Tina Houghton 
supported the fee and cap proposal. Committee Chairwoman Carol Wood opposed it.

"We can revisit this in a year," Houghton said, adding that 
first-year data will by then be available to review.

Council last month approved regulations that would require medical 
marijuana businesses to operate 1,000 feet from schools, churches and 
other dispensaries and in industrial and commercial zones.

No licenses will be issued until the council approves the cap and fee schedule.

The ordinance exempts the 48 recognized businesses from the buffering 
requirements for a year.

"I just want to see the enforcement happen," said Shekina Pena, owner 
of the Your Healthy Choice LLC dispensary on Michigan Avenue.

Pena wants compliant, reputable businesses granted licenses.

"I just don't want to see everybody run around last minute," she 
said. "Try and help us clean up the situation, because it's a big mess."

Residents have suggested setting a maximum of 16 or 24 dispensaries 
and spreading them evenly throughout Lansing's four wards.

The cap as proposed would not divide them, and eastside residents 
said they were concerned that a majority could operate in the 1st Ward.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom