PINCKNEY WEIGHS HALT ON MEDICAL POT DISPENSARIES

The Pinckney Village Council discussed a potential moratorium on
medical marijuana Monday, becoming the fifth Livingston County
municipality to bring up the matter, joining Green Oak and Brighton
townships, and the cities of Howell and Brighton.

Village President Rebecca Foster said the council examined a few
options regarding a moratorium, but deferred any decisions until its
Aug. 23 meeting.

"We have the same issue every other community does; nobody has
anything in their ordinances about medical marijuana," Foster said.
"That's why you're seeing a lot of moratoriums right now. We have to
do our homework until then."

Foster said there are "huge, gaping holes" in the 2008 voter-approved
Michigan Medical Marihuana Act and that the statute provides minimal
guidance on marijuana dispensaries.

The council examined two "very different" medical marijuana
ordinances from Grand Rapids and Livonia. The council was not
receptive of an ordinance mirroring Livonia's, which requires
businesses to comply with federal regulations that ban the sale of
marijuana, Foster said.

Foster said the council leaned more toward the language used by Grand
Rapids, which placed medical marijuana language squarely in the
domain of an ordinance on home-based businesses.

This method removes the possibility of commercial dispensaries,
social clubs, clinics and "high-volume situations" popping up in the
village, Foster said.

Foster said the Village Council is leaning toward approving a
six-month moratorium on marijuana dispensaries.

Not everyone is happy local municipalities are taking up the issue.

Doug Orton, president of the Brighton Area Compassion Club, said
these municipalities' "knee-jerk" reactions will ultimately prove illegal.

The compassion club is a social group that meets in the Brighton area
and teaches individuals how to grow their own medical marijuana;
connects caregivers and patients; and educates its members about the
law, according to Orton.

"It's pretty much a knee-jerk reaction by cities, and many will
discover through unfortunate legal action that what they're doing is
illegal," said Orton, who believes those who need medical marijuana
should have an accessible way of getting it if they're unable to grow
it themselves. "They have certain obligations to make this medicine
available to patients. Dispensaries will be a necessity. Do you
really want patients going down the mean streets trying to get it?"

The council will again discuss the issue at its next meeting, at 7
p.m. Aug. 23 at Village Hall, 220 S. Howell St.