ROYAL OAK OFFICIALS DELAY MEDICAL POT ORDINANCE

Royal Oak -- City planning officials were on the verge of considering
an ordinance that would have regulated where medical marijuana can be
grown in the city, when the police chief brought their plans to a
halt.

Police Chief Chris Jahnke urged officials in an e-mail Tuesday to ban
marijuana dispensaries altogether.

"Instead of regulating these businesses, I would like the Zoning
Board to consider not allowing them as they are in violation of
federal law," Jahnke wrote to planning Director Tim Thwing.

Jahnke sent an e-mail Tuesday to the planning department, asking it
to consider an ordinance passed by Livonia in July that prohibits
licensing any business that is in violation of federal, state or
local law.

Michigan voters approved a law in November 2008 to allow the
seriously ill to smoke marijuana. Michigan became the 13th state, and
first in the Midwest, to legalize medical marijuana. Marijuana use
remains illegal under federal law but federal drug agents won't
pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states
that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines issued in
October.

Jahnke and the city attorney have been asked to attend the next
Planning Commission meeting in January to explain the
recommendation.

Planning Commission members were expected Tuesday to debate a zoning
ordinance that would require all licensed caregivers to grow pot in a
dispensary in the general business district along Woodward Avenue.

The proposal also would set hours of operation for dispensaries in
the city from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and prohibit operating within a
1,000-foot radius of a school, library, park, licensed group day
care, place of worship, adult-oriented shop or another dispensary.

Officials say the proposed law would not prohibit caregivers from
visiting the homes of patients to assist them with marijuana use or
possessing the patient's pot at the patient's home. It would not
apply to qualified patients who are physician-certified to grow the
drug.

City planner Doug Hedges said because state law allows caregivers to
be compensated for costs associated with assisting registered
patients in the use of medical marijuana, the city sees that as
grounds to treat caregivers as a business and regulate them by
allowing them only in certain districts while prohibiting them as a
home occupation.

State law allows caregivers to grow marijuana for up to five
registered patients, which means caregivers may legally possess 2.5
grams and 12 plants per patient for a total of 12.5 ounces and 60
plants.

"The Michigan Medical Marihuana Association estimates that a primary
caregiver with five patients could potentially earn up to $50,000
annually," Hedges said citing media reports. "Allowing primary
caregivers by right in residential zoning districts as a home
occupation would grant them special privileges not enjoyed by any
other medical services."

Royal Oak planning officials say their actions are an attempt to
avoid problems faced by Los Angeles, which put a moratorium on new
dispensaries in 2007 after they proliferated.