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PINCKNEY WEIGHS HALT ON MEDICAL POT DISPENSARIES

The Pinckney Village Council discussed a potential moratorium on medical marijuana Monday, becoming the fifth Livingston County municipality to bring up the matter, joining Green Oak and Brighton townships, and the cities of Howell and Brighton.

Village President Rebecca Foster said the council examined a few options regarding a moratorium, but deferred any decisions until its Aug.  23 meeting.

"We have the same issue every other community does; nobody has anything in their ordinances about medical marijuana," Foster said.  "That's why you're seeing a lot of moratoriums right now.  We have to do our homework until then."

Foster said there are "huge, gaping holes" in the 2008 voter-approved Michigan Medical Marihuana Act and that the statute provides minimal guidance on marijuana dispensaries.

The council examined two "very different" medical marijuana ordinances from Grand Rapids and Livonia.  The council was not receptive of an ordinance mirroring Livonia's, which requires businesses to comply with federal regulations that ban the sale of marijuana, Foster said.

Foster said the council leaned more toward the language used by Grand Rapids, which placed medical marijuana language squarely in the domain of an ordinance on home-based businesses.

This method removes the possibility of commercial dispensaries, social clubs, clinics and "high-volume situations" popping up in the village, Foster said.

Foster said the Village Council is leaning toward approving a six-month moratorium on marijuana dispensaries.

Not everyone is happy local municipalities are taking up the issue.

Doug Orton, president of the Brighton Area Compassion Club, said these municipalities' "knee-jerk" reactions will ultimately prove illegal.

The compassion club is a social group that meets in the Brighton area and teaches individuals how to grow their own medical marijuana; connects caregivers and patients; and educates its members about the law, according to Orton.

"It's pretty much a knee-jerk reaction by cities, and many will discover through unfortunate legal action that what they're doing is illegal," said Orton, who believes those who need medical marijuana should have an accessible way of getting it if they're unable to grow it themselves.  "They have certain obligations to make this medicine available to patients.  Dispensaries will be a necessity.  Do you really want patients going down the mean streets trying to get it?"

The council will again discuss the issue at its next meeting, at 7 p.m.  Aug.  23 at Village Hall, 220 S.  Howell St.