GRAND RAPIDS OFFICIAL: ALLOWING MEDICAL MARIJUANA SALES FROM HOMES
PREFERABLE TO STAND-ALONE MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

GRAND RAPIDS -- Allowing medical marijuana sales from the homes of
those who grow is preferable to allowing stand-alone marijuana
dispensaries, City Planning Director Suzanne Schulz said Thursday.

"We are going to have people doing it anyway," Schultz told the city's
Planning Commission.

The commission tabled the matter, vowing to discuss it next month
despite several members who said they were aghast at the prospect of
allowing marijuana distribution in neighborhoods. "Obviously it's an
emotional issue," Commission Vice Chairman Paul Potter said.

"We have to educate ourselves or we will make a decision that is not
fact-based."

Schulz said her proposal to allow home distribution would allow the
city to outlaw larger dispensaries that could cause problems.

State law approved last year allows distribution by state-licensed
caregivers who are limited to five patients each. Caregivers are
allowed to raise 12 marijuana plants for each one of their patients.
Not allowing home distribution would open the city to accusations it
was illegally outlawing a legitimate business, Schulz said.

The state law allows licensed caregivers to supply marijuana to
patients who get recommendations from medical doctors for a handful of
diseases such as AIDs, chemotherapy reactions and seizures.

To date, the state has issued 6,125 medical marijuana patient
registrations and has registered 2,572 caregivers, according to the
Michigan Department of Community Health. The ordinance proposed by
Schulz also would allow distribution from pharmacies, medical clinics
or doctors' offices.

Although pharmacists and doctors are barred from distributing
marijuana by federal law, Schulz said the ordinance would allow
caregivers to use their facilities for distribution.

The ordinance also could accommodate possible changes in federal law,
she said.

The Grand Rapids Police Department is opposed to having marijuana
dispensaries in residential neighborhoods, Sgt. Holly Botts said.

But complying with the law will be difficult for police because they
won't be able to determine which marijuana distributors are
legitimate, said Botts, who works in the vice unit.

"The law is very gray," she said. "Trust me, every agency in the state
is encountering things they don't have answers for.

Botts said most police agencies are basing their concern on
California's 12 years of experience with legalized medical marijuana.

"They have an ungodly number of dispensaries," she
said.

"Our concern is getting a grip on it before it gets out of
control."

Olon Tucker, owner of the Medical Marijuana Learning Center, told
commissioners he wants to create a business educating caregivers and
patients.

Limiting medical marijuana to pharmacies and clinical settings would
deny business opportunities in what has become a billion-dollar
industry in California, he said.