Get Active Subscribe Support Us

WAIT AND SEE APPROACH TO MARIJUANA

On May 20, members of the Ypsilanti City Council narrowly delayed voting on a proposed emergency moratorium on new applications for medical marijuana dispensaries.  The measure would have placed a 60-day moratorium on permits and licenses during which time city staff would evaluate dispensaries and growing facilities that already have been approved and then decide how many more to allow into the city.

In the spirit of free enterprise and public health, is throwing additional local regulation into the medical marijuana commotion the best thing for Ypsilanti and other Washtenaw County communities struggling with similar issues? The answer to that question is shaky at best with many gray areas both at the state and local levels blurring a common-sense solution.

For instance, City Attorney John Barr cited concerns for the "preservation of the public peace, health, safety and welfare of the city," as the impetus for recommending the emergency moratorium as he stated in a May 10 letter to City Council.

What is missing here are hard data about what public safety impact the dispensaries have really had.  And unfortunately, when the facts are missing those gaps get filled in with conjecture and individual perception.

Jamie Lowell from the 3rd Coast Compassion Center, 19 N.  Hamilton St., the first medical marijuana dispensary in the entire state, stated flatly at the meeting that he believes there are no public safety concerns.

"Have this discussion but please don't pass anything that would reflect that there is a public health and safety issue, because there is none," Lowell said at the meeting.

But Pastor Harry Grayson of Messias Temple Church, 200 Harriet St., supported the moratorium saying the city has become "saturated," with medical marijuana use.

And this type of thing will likely go on ad nauseam.

Fact of the matter is, local municipalities have not gained much traction in untangling the 2008 referendum-passed Michigan Medical Marihuana Act ever since dispensaries started sprouting up just a few short years ago, this despite laws passed in April further clarifying the doctor-patient relationship and legal, appropriate use.

Some in Lansing are at least taking a more proactive approach such as Rep.  Jeff Irwin ( D-Ann Arbor ) who in April introduced House Bill 4623 that would essentially push marijuana use over the goal line through decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana - medical or otherwise.  Irwin argues that marijuana prosecution is a drain on state and local public safety resources.

"Michigan spends an estimated $326 million a year on arresting, trying and imprisoning people for marijuana offenses," stated Irwin in a press releas.  "Yet such policies have proven remarkably ineffective in achieving their purpose of preventing marijuana use."

However, as it was pointed out during Ypsi's recent City Council meeting, the Legislature has no plans on addressing this in the current session despite Irwin's introduction of HB 4623.

Even with Lansing's slowly grinding gears seemingly keeping municipalities out in the medical marijuana lurch, we think that taking a wait-and-see approach for the moment would be the common sense solution for the city and other areas dealing with the dispensary question.  However the city chooses to go about it, taking action to regulate dispensaries like any other business can only be a good thing for council and the residents.