OXFORD REVIEWS MEDICAL MARIJUANA ZONING

The Oxford Township Planning Commission has decided to send the text
of a medical marijuana dispensary zoning ordinance back to a review
subcommittee.

The commission this week did not vote on whether it will recommend the
opening of medical marijuana dispensaries to the township.

The commissioners still have to decide whether these dispensaries
should be open to only card-carrying patients and caregivers or if
separate rooms of the dispensaries will be allowed to sell other
products to the public.

The text of the Zoning Ordinance 67A will be sent back to the
Ordinance Review Subcommittee for changes to discuss what the
dispensaries should be able to sell and to whom.

Any other suggestions the committee has about the zoning of
dispensaries.

Once those changes are complete, it will be brought back to the
planning commission for action.

Until then, the planning commission will not make any decisions
regarding whether they will recommend the opening of
dispensaries.

"What we generally decided was this was not going to be a place that
people would go for general retail, that it would be a place as a
dispensary," said Thomas Berger, planning commission vice chairman.

Planning Commissioner Jack Curtis said commissioners should not let
their emotions dictate their decision but instead should view
themselves as voting based on what the public wants and what is best
for the community.

Resident Dan Roland told the commission he thinks other products
should be sold at dispensaries because many people ingest marijuana
through foods and oils instead of smoking it.

"There are several other ways to consume the medicine. Most patients
who are in a debilitating condition, such as irreversible cancer, the
doctors will sign the paperwork stating that they will not smoke it
through the consumption of smoke," said Roland.

Roland compared this to video stores where anyone can rent movies but
there are still adult sections not rentable to anyone younger than
18.

In the same way, Roland said he thinks the marijuana should be sold in
a separate room for only card-carrying members.

Orion Township resident John Hart said he is worried that, if the
dispensaries are open to the public, future generations will become
desensitized to marijuana and think it's a normal way of life.

He also urged the planning commission to think about the legality of
what would happen if someone died from ingesting marijuana bought at a
dispensary and who might be deemed responsible.

Martin Collier, member of the Village of Oxford's Planning Commission,
said: "I understand that 62 percent of the people voted for it and 38
percent of the people voted against it.

"We have a right to be passionate about things in our lives. I have a
right to be passionate about this because I know what it has done in
my life. I have used marijuana. I know the recourse of it."

The law currently allows that medical marijuana can be sold in the
home of a licensed caregiver to no more than five patients. The
difference between this and a dispensary is that the dispensary would
sell to more than five patients or caregivers.

Planning commissioner Kallie Roesner said: "What we're trying to do
now is regulate areas if they want to do this on a larger scale."

Using and selling medical marijuana would be permitted in several
zones of the community.

The applicable zones are: local commercial businesses, businesses
conducted entirely in a closed space; general commercial businesses,
businesses that have some outdoor sales; and research offices.

No medical marijuana dispensaries would be located one mile of any
other medical marijuana dispensary or within 1,000 feet of a church, a
school that includes any grades from kindergarten to 12th grade or a
licensed child care facility.

The planning commission decided on Thursday that they want to expand
this to include synagogues, mosques or any houses of worship, which
will also be discussed by the Ordinance Review Subcommittee.