BRUCE OFFICIALS PUT A HALT TO MARIJUANA PERMITS

Bruce Township officials have taken a wait-and-see attitude about
medical marijuana businesses starting up in the area.

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on
distributing permits for medical marijuana business ventures in the township.

The moratorium will allow the Planning Commission to investigate what
other communities are doing in response to the matter and give it an
opportunity to conduct its own research.

Trustee Ron Walker was not present for the Aug. 18 meeting.

Supervisor Jim Tignanelli said the issue was broached when people
began asking the township if they could open or remodel businesses to
sell or grow the plant.

"It came upon us rather abruptly - it probably shouldn't have, but I
guess I didn't anticipate it," he said.

In response, the Planning Commission requested that the board adopt a
moratorium to stop such permits in the township for a year so it can
properly research and write an ordinance to deal with it.

"Quite honestly, there's a lot of things to learn about it, and we
want to let other people blaze a trail for us if we can, not because
we're not capable, but we'd like to see what other people do," Tignanelli said.

He added that the moratorium can be removed at any time before its
expiration if need be.

"We're not saying it'll take a year, we're saying that we need a year
- - perhaps," he said.

The use of cannabis for medical purposes was approved by Michigan
voters during the November 2008 election. In Bruce Township, 2,947 of
5,021 voters said "yes" to the new law.

The state law allows residents to apply for medical marijuana cards
so long as they are someone's primary caregiver or have a
debilitating medical condition themselves.

The list of medical conditions that qualify ranges from cancer and
glaucoma to severe nausea and severe chronic pain.

The law permits caregivers to grow up to 60 plants for five patients.
Each patient can have up to 12 plants.

According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, since April
6, 2009, 49,602 original and renewal applications were received by
the Michigan Medicinal Marijuana Program, with 24,305 patient
registrations issued.

Around 6,300 applications were denied, mostly due to incomplete
applications or mission documentation.

Bruce Township resident Carl Beauvais was curious about the board's
actions, as he didn't see how the growing or selling of medical
marijuana differed from other operations.

"It's another business venture is all it is, it's legal," he said.
"I'm not sure why we have a moratorium."

He said there are already ordinances in place for other businesses,
so it could fall within one of those categories.

Tignanelli said medical marijuana needs to be properly introduced
into the township's ordinances, such as whether it's considered
agricultural or commercial.

"We have people coming in now, we're going to do our best to help
them operate within our confines like we would with any business," he said.

Like any other business, medical marijuana ventures would have to go
through the usual approval process, such as submitting site plans to
the Planning Commission.

"We're not prohibiting cardholders from using it, and we're not going
to cause anything that the law allows not to occur, but we're not
clear enough on what the four corners of the law allows," said
Tignanelli after the meeting.

Bruce-Romeo Fire Chief Floyd Shotwell said a couple of fires in the
township have revealed that some residents were growers, so it's
already present.

"I don't think they were growing it for medical reasons," he said.

Along with Bruce Township, Ferndale has also put a moratorium on
pot-related commerce, while cities like Troy and Livonia have
restricted or outright banned it.

Marijuana is still considered illegal for recreational use in Michigan.