GRAND RAPIDS -- Several months after the city required medical marijuana growers to become licensed as home-based businesses, no licenses have been issued. The only applicant for a license was denied last month, according to information obtained by The Press under the Freedom of Information Act. Is the ordinance too restrictive, shutting out would-be growers -- or caregivers -- who want to serve the state's 45,800 card-carrying medical marijuana patients? I think it's too early to tell," said City Clerk Lauri Parks, whose office denied the application. [continues 424 words]
GRAND RAPIDS - As she opens the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) first office in West Michigan, Miriam Aukerman still doesn't have an Internet connection. Most of her files and law books are still in boxes. But the 41-year-old lawyer is making her presence known. Aukerman is one of the lawyers representing a man who sued the city of Wyoming because it will not allow him to grow medical marijuana under a state law approved by state voters in 2008. [continues 485 words]
GRAND RAPIDS -- Medical marijuana can be grown legally in the city, but only if the grower obtains a city license, according to an ordinance that won preliminary approval by city commissioners Tuesday. Before those home-based businesses get a city license, they may have to get inspections of their equipment. They also have to limit customer visits, according to the ordinance. The ordinance, which is scheduled for final adoption on June 22, was developed to comply with a 2008 state ballot initiative that allows medical marijuana to be grown and distributed by state-licensed caregivers to qualifying patients. [continues 233 words]
SIDNEY - David Overholt has great hopes for the marijuana he is growing in the basement of his Montcalm County farmhouse. As a founder of the Mid Michigan Compassion Club, Overholt says the medical marijuana law approved statewide last year has created business opportunities for people who see marijuana as an alternative to traditional pills and painkillers. "We're bringing structure and order to an industry that has none," said Overholt, whose club tries to pair patients legally entitled to get marijuana with "caregivers" growing marijuana legally. [continues 1061 words]
GRAND RAPIDS -- Allowing medical marijuana sales from the homes of those who grow is preferable to allowing stand-alone marijuana dispensaries, City Planning Director Suzanne Schulz said Thursday. "We are going to have people doing it anyway," Schultz told the city's Planning Commission. The commission tabled the matter, vowing to discuss it next month despite several members who said they were aghast at the prospect of allowing marijuana distribution in neighborhoods. "Obviously it's an emotional issue," Commission Vice Chairman Paul Potter said. [continues 360 words]
GRAND RAPIDS - Olon Tucker says he is an entrepreneur and wants to take advantage of the state's new medical marijuana law by opening The Medical Marijuana Learning Center. The center, at 2012 28th St. SE, would sell marijuana to registered customers in the form of pastries, butter, pills or smoking products. The center also would teach customers how to grow their own marijuana. "This is a $1 billion industry in California," said Tucker, 37. "I'm here to educate people; I'm here to help them get their recommendation from a medical doctor." [continues 467 words]
