MEDICAL MARIJUANA NEEDS REGULATIONS

TRAVERSE CITY - City leaders and medical marijuana patients and
caregivers agree it's important to regulate the growth and
distribution of the drug within Traverse City limits.

The city wants a foundation from which to address complaints and a
way to minimize traffic from such activities in residential areas.
And those permitted to grow marijuana want to continue to do so
legally without turning their hometown into a haven for outsiders
who seek a quick profit.

Both groups met to draft a proposed ordinance, since taken up by the
city's planning commission, that is expected to be presented at a
public hearing next month.

"We were really trying to deal with the land-use impacts," city
Planning Director Russ Soyring said. "If this operation of growing
marijuana was creating a nuisance, we could address the nuisance."

Michigan voters approved marijuana for medical use in 2008. Three
years prior, 63 percent of Traverse City voters supported a measure
that made medical marijuana use, transfer or possession a low
priority for law enforcement. The ballot stopped short of legalizing
it.

The latest ordinance would allow marijuana to be grown in residential
and industrial districts, provided plants are kept "within a fully
enclosed locked facility inaccessible on all sides."

That includes garages and sheds. Central neighborhood resident
Adrienne Rossi said she is concerned about an increase in theft or
crime that could result from residential marijuana
cultivation.

Authorized patients or caregivers only would be allowed to transfer
the drug between other patients in what are termed "collectives,"
located in hospital or some commercial districts -- including downtown.

In the collectives, patients and caregivers wouldn't be able to keep
marijuana there between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. They, their parents or
guardians, and facility owners and employees would be the only people
allowed inside.

A city moratorium on sale or distribution permits is set to expire
Aug. 19. New rules enacted before then would prevent people from
conducting those activities anywhere, City Attorney Karrie Zeits said.

Traverse City's ordinance would permit up to 72 plants grown in a
single-family home -- each patient is allowed 12 plants, and
caregivers can grow for five patients -- and up to 12 in a
multi-family residence.

The rules would require the buildings primarily be used as
residences.

"There are some people who want to make this the next Amsterdam,"
said Bob Cameron, a city resident and medical marijuana caregiver.
"We also wanted to protect ourselves so that people don't come to
Traverse City and rent a house and turn it all into a growing
(operation)."