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COUNCIL TO VOTE ON TWO MEDICAL POT ORDINANCES

Two ordinances regarding medical marijuana are scheduled to be voted on at the East Lansing City Council's meeting tonight. 

The first ordinance establishes licensing guidelines for primary caregiver operations and dispensaries so that people cannot possess and distribute medical marijuana before the council sets formal regulations, according to city documents.  The second ordinance is a moratorium on the discussion of the issue, which will give the council 90 days to gather more information on the topic before finalizing those regulations. 

Councilmember Nathan Triplett said the moratorium would allow the council to consider additional input from various sources, including residents and the East Lansing Police Department, or ELPD. 

During the moratorium, residents would not be able to apply for a medical marijuana dispensing license, meaning they will not be able to open a medical marijuana dispensary of any sort, Councilmember Kevin Beard said.  The move would not affect primary caregivers, or people who grow pot for medical marijuana users. 

"The hope is in the next three months we will finish gathering any information we need to find out what is best for the community," Triplett said. 

Michigan voters passed the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, or MMMA, in November 2008.  The MMMA went into effect April 6, 2009 and since has spurred many cities to work out more specific regulations. 

The MMMA outlines the amount of marijuana registered patients and caregivers can possess, but does not specify the registration and regulation of dispensaries, which is left for individual cities to decide. 

Communities have taken a wide variety of approaches to specifying local laws, Triplett said. 

A major issue in the potential ordinance is regarding the licensing of storefront dispensaries as well as home occupation, Beard said. 

"One of the aspects is you could put them in commercial zones in the city like East Grand River Avenue that are already zoned for business," he said.  "The other way of doing it is to regulate them as home occupations."

The ELPD will use the moratorium to contact other states and agencies that currently are regulating medical marijuana, East Lansing police Capt.  Tom Johnstone said. 

"It is new to all of us, so it's pretty hard to formulate a really good opinion of what we can anticipate as issues unless we do our research," he said.