Pubdate: Thu, 01 Sep 2011 Source: Tecumseh Herald (MI) Copyright: 2011 Herald Publishing Company Contact: http://www.tecumsehherald.com/node/13 Website: http://www.tecumsehherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5284 Author: Deb Wuethrich OFFICIALS STUDY IMPACT OF COURT RULING ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES A ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals last Wednesday, Aug. 24, that determined the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) does not permit patient-to-patient marijuana sales or facilitation or distribution through dispensaries leaves local officials still watching what happens next. The court declared dispensaries a public nuisance. In the State of Michigan v. McQueen, the Court said it was illegal for operators of an Isabella County medical marijuana dispensary that rented locker space to MMMP (Michigan Medical Marijuana Program) - -registered caregivers and patients to store their excess marijuana, with other registered patients given an opportunity to buy the stored marijuana. Many, but not all, of the state's 400-500 dispensaries have shut down in the wake of the ruling and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's statement that he would coach Michigan's 83 prosecutors on how to use the ruling to shut down dispensaries. In a statement, Schuette called the ruling "a huge victory for public safety and Michigan communities struggling with an invasion of pot shops near their schools, homes and churches." He also said the Court "echoed the concerns of law enforcement, clarifying that this law is narrowly focused to help the seriously ill, not the creation of a marijuana free-for-all." Meanwhile, many local jurisdictions are still struggling with the law and potential implications of the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling. Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathan Poer said that in order to prosecute local dispensaries, a complaint would have to be filed, detailing how they were violating the MMMA. Law enforcement agencies are also struggling with separating those who are following the MMMA as caregivers and patients and those who may be skirting the parameters of the law and operating illegally. "The ruling makes the whole thing even more confusing for us, to be honest," said Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch. Tecumseh City Council just extended its moratorium on Aug. 1 to give the Tecumseh Planning Commission more time to fashion an ordinance that was planned regarding where dispensaries could operate in the city. "The question as to whether we have the right to authorize somebody to do this is really up in the air. We certainly don't question the rights of a patient to use medical marijuana, but it's difficult for the city to take any kind of action at this point while the issue is being challenged." Welch said the city attorney, Scott Baker, has been keeping city officials apprised of the Appeals Court ruling and others being filed across the state and is monitoring it very closely. Tecumseh Building Services Director Brad Raymond has been working with the Tecumseh Planning Commission for nearly two years to fashion an ordinance. "The court ruling changes the whole ordinance," said Raymond. "The idea we were working on was that we would allow them in the industrial district, but this kind of put the clamp on that because the ruling says you can't have dispensaries or medical marijuana operations and sell to patients for profit. All the work we put into our ordinance is to no avail now." Raymond said word has it that the matter may soon go before the Michigan Supreme Court. "That would be good, because we want a final ruling on it so it becomes law. We weren't ever going to control a patient's right to grow their own for their own purposes, we were just working to try to regulate where a dispensary could operate, but the ruling shoots that out of the water." Raymond said the planning commission had a good ordinance lined up to put into place. "Now we're watching as the court cases go through the system," he said. "There's very loose language in the law that made it very difficult for the state health department and communities to deal with this, so as rulings come out, it's going to make it a lot clearer for us. We'll be discussing what came about with this at our next planning commission meeting, and try to get an idea about our direction now." Raisin Township Police Chief Scott Lambka said that the ruling pretty much reaffirms the goal that Raisin Township was trying to accomplish when it recently passed a police power Medical Marijuana Ordinance, which includes in its findings of fact that: "Despite the specifics of the MMMA and the activities legally allowed set forth therein, marijuana is still a controlled substance under Michigan law and the legalization of obtaining, possessing, cultivating/growing, use and distribution in specific circumstances has a potential for abuse that should be closely monitored and, to the extent permissible, regulated by the local authorities." The new ordinance was approached from a health, safety and welfare perspective, with an intent that "nothing in this ordinance be construed to allow persons to engage in conduct that endangers others or causes a public nuisance; or to allow use, possession or control of marijuana for non-medical purposes; or allow activity relating to cultivation/growing, distribution or consumption of marijuana that is otherwise illegal." The ordinance acknowledges that medical marijuana can be possessed and used in the township "only in accordance with the MMMA rules," but that dispensaries are unlawful, including that it is "unlawful for any primary caregiver to dispense medical marijuana or assist a qualifying patient to use medical marijuana in or through any retail store, storefront, office building, manufacturing building, processing facility, cooperative growing facility, dispensary, or any type of commercial or industrial building" located within the township. "The court ruling just reaffirms the goal we were trying to accomplish with our ordinance," said Lambka. "Unfortunately, the way the law is written for medical marijuana, it leaves it up to us as municipalities for us to try to close up on the law and what it's intending to do. But what the ruling does is reaffirm what we set out to do and actually gives our ordinance some teeth for prosecution." Lambka acknowledged that under the MMMA, caregivers could operate in the township and grow plants for up to five registered patients. "Caregivers are still okay -- but not commercial dispensaries," he said. The township is aware of caregivers operating within the Raisin Township community, and Lambka confirmed that law enforcement is closely monitoring the situation. The Raisin Township Planning Commission is also working on a zoning ordinance to further strengthen the law as officials work on the task of looking out for public health and safety. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.