Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
The Detroit City Council is expected take up a second ordinance to regulate the city's booming medical marijuana industry on Tuesday, although final approval of the measure may not come until January.
The council's planning and economic development committee on Thursday approved the latest version of ordinances designating where dispensaries can locate. Without those regulations, more than 150 unlicensed and unregulated dispensaries have opened up across the city, raising deep concerns among some residents.
The restrictions would require that dispensaries not be located within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, caregiver centers and places such as liquor stores.
One major change the council committee approved would allow for a variance of distance of up to 20%, to be determined by the city's Board of Zoning Appeals. That would allow, for example, a dispensary to be located within 800 feet of a church if the BZA approved it. The variance would not apply to drug-free school zones, however, and dispensaries would have to be at least 1,000 feet from those zones.
The council in October approved licensing measures that will require dispensaries to get a city license or be shut down. In addition, shop operators would be subject to a police background check, drive-through service would be prohibited, facilities would be inspected and shops would be prohibited from staying open 24 hours a day.
Dispensary owners and medical marijuana advocates argue that the city's restrictions are over-broad and will leave too few areas eligible to have dispensaries, severely limiting their ability to provide marijuana to people with legitimate medical needs. But residents who've seen commercial zones of the city inundated with dispensaries say they're overwhelmed and want them limited and regulated.
"I think it's imperative that we provide safe access to the medication, but we also know what was passed today by the committee will drastically reduce the over-saturation we have today," said Councilman James Tate, representing the 1st District. "It's a delicate balance."
Tate said the full council will take up the ordinance at its next meeting on Tuesday. But the council goes on winter-holiday recess on Nov. 24, and it's not clear whether members will decide to interrupt the break to hold a public hearing on the issue and a vote before the council's first post-recess meeting on Jan. 5, Tate said.
By law the council cannot approve an ordinance without holding a public hearing on it, with 15 days' public notice. *edit*
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: City Council May Crack Down On Booming Cannabis Industry
Author: Matt Helms
Contact: Feedback Page
Photo Credit: Free Press File Photo
Website: Detroit Free Press
The council's planning and economic development committee on Thursday approved the latest version of ordinances designating where dispensaries can locate. Without those regulations, more than 150 unlicensed and unregulated dispensaries have opened up across the city, raising deep concerns among some residents.
The restrictions would require that dispensaries not be located within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, caregiver centers and places such as liquor stores.
One major change the council committee approved would allow for a variance of distance of up to 20%, to be determined by the city's Board of Zoning Appeals. That would allow, for example, a dispensary to be located within 800 feet of a church if the BZA approved it. The variance would not apply to drug-free school zones, however, and dispensaries would have to be at least 1,000 feet from those zones.
The council in October approved licensing measures that will require dispensaries to get a city license or be shut down. In addition, shop operators would be subject to a police background check, drive-through service would be prohibited, facilities would be inspected and shops would be prohibited from staying open 24 hours a day.
Dispensary owners and medical marijuana advocates argue that the city's restrictions are over-broad and will leave too few areas eligible to have dispensaries, severely limiting their ability to provide marijuana to people with legitimate medical needs. But residents who've seen commercial zones of the city inundated with dispensaries say they're overwhelmed and want them limited and regulated.
"I think it's imperative that we provide safe access to the medication, but we also know what was passed today by the committee will drastically reduce the over-saturation we have today," said Councilman James Tate, representing the 1st District. "It's a delicate balance."
Tate said the full council will take up the ordinance at its next meeting on Tuesday. But the council goes on winter-holiday recess on Nov. 24, and it's not clear whether members will decide to interrupt the break to hold a public hearing on the issue and a vote before the council's first post-recess meeting on Jan. 5, Tate said.
By law the council cannot approve an ordinance without holding a public hearing on it, with 15 days' public notice. *edit*
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: City Council May Crack Down On Booming Cannabis Industry
Author: Matt Helms
Contact: Feedback Page
Photo Credit: Free Press File Photo
Website: Detroit Free Press
