OVID EXAMINES RESTRICTIONS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA SITES

OVID - Blacked-out windows, surveillance cameras and security guards
soon may be requirements for medical marijuana businesses hoping to
set up shop in the village of Ovid.

The precautions are just a few of the recommendations the village
council is considering as it works to create a zoning ordinance for
future pot shops.

Monday, the village planning commission presented council members
with a list of recommendations for a zoning ordinance in the works
for medical marijuana businesses.

Following an individual's request to set up a medical marijuana
business in the village, the council imposed a 90-day land use
moratorium on commercial medical marijuana-based entities, which took
effect July 12. The moratorium includes a provision that would allow
the council to extend it if necessary.

"The council added a moratorium so that we could study the situation
a little bit more," Planning Commission Chairman Don Chamberlain
said. "Across the state, there's moratoriums all over because people
really don't know what to do with it."

Village President Bill Lasher said the planning commission's
recommendations are currently being reviewed by village attorney
Gordon BanWieren Jr. of the Thrun Law Firm, and he hopes to have an
ordinance to review by the October village council meeting.

But while the planning commission's initial recommendations would
allow the medical marijuana facilities in the B-2 zoning district,
they also include a number of restrictions compiled from police and
planning commission input.

"It's something that's going to be very well monitored with a long
list of requirements," Lasher said.

According to the recommendations, medical marijuana businesses would
not be allowed to have any sign on the outside of the building, aside
from an address. All windows would be blocked and closed circuit
security cameras would be installed to record all areas inside and
outside the building. The businesses also would have to be located
1,000 feet from schools, playgrounds, libraries, child-care
facilities and youth centers, as well as 500 feet from other
dispensaries and residential areas.

No one under 18, or without a medical marijuana license, would be
allowed inside the building. Security guards would be required during
business hours and all marijuana would have to be locked up at all
times. No smoking of marijuana would be allowed on the premises.
Employees, contractors, owners and partners would have to go through
a background check and have no history of drug charges or felonies.
The business would also have to fully cooperate with random
inspections and meet all state guidelines.

The village also asked BanWieren to look into other municipalities'
medical marijuana zoning ordinances for additional business
restrictions not already included in those compiled by the planning
commission, Lasher said. He added, the council also hopes the
attorney will provide recommendations on possible penalties that
could be imposed if requirements are not followed.

In creating the recommendations, the planning commission tried to be
as "open" as possible while creating regulations that would be
agreeable to local police, Chamberlain said.

"We're concerned about having the medical marijuana and having it so
that it's really for people that need the drug. And we're not
interested in the recreational use of it," Chamberlain said. "It's
legal in Michigan. So you really have to accommodate them in some manner."

Lasher said he hasn't gotten a lot of feedback concerning the
possibility of having a medical marijuana business in the village,
but, in general, people have mixed opinions on the issue.

"(Cancer survivors) are far more aware of how medical marijuana has
been useful to the treatment of cancer and cancer survivors because
they talk to their network. And so those folks have a more positive
feel than people who have never had any association with marijuana
other than what they read in the newspaper about drugs," Lasher said.
"But in all cases, people say there needs to be rules and
regulations, and that's what they keep emphasizing. You have to have
rules and regulations, and they need to be adhered to."