WYOMING'S SELF-DESCRIBED 'CONSERVATIVE COUNCIL' BANS MEDICAL MARIJUANA

WYOMING -- Licensed by the state to grow and dispense marijuana for
medicinal purposes, Ernest Richards at the same time was breaking
federal law. Now, the Wyoming man also is violating city ordinance.

Wyoming City Council in a unanimous vote Monday enacted a ban on
medical marijuana, joining several municipalities on the east side of Michigan.

"I'm not going to stop doing what I'm doing," Richards said. "As far
as I'm concerned, the state granted me this right."

Like many communities, Wyoming has been exploring regulations to
govern the use of medical marijuana that Michigan voters approved in
2008. City voters passed the proposal in 27 of 28 precincts.

Wyoming Planning Commission last month was gridlocked in 4-4 votes on
whether to recommend regulations or a ban. The city attorney advised
against prohibition, saying it likely would prompt a lawsuit.

But elected officials on the self-described "conservative council"
said allowing marijuana to be dispensed outside the pharmaceutical
system could pose public-safety hazards. They passed an ordinance
outlawing medical marijuana locally because it's against federal law.

"There's a right way to do it. The state of Michigan did this the
wrong way," said Mayor Jack Poll, a pharmacist. "There's rights and
there's wrongs and there's ways that we feel in our heart on how we
need to vote.

"My fear is what (medical marijuana) can do to our neighborhoods."

Medical marijuana advocates urged officials to respect the 2008 vote,
claiming that a ban steals people's right to grow the plants and
forces them instead to buy the product on the street. Pushing the
drug back underground will remove legal competition among caregivers
and endanger the health of people who use marijuana to relieve pain
caused by various medical conditions, they said.

"What you're going to end up with is criminals running the show,"
said Todd Dyer, a medical marijuana caregiver and executive director
of the West Michigan Compassion Club. "It's time to grow up and
realize this is a medicinal plant.

"I don't trust a drug company. I trust Mother Earth. I trust nature."

Richards said he will fight to have Wyoming's ban rescinded.

"It's a matter of making the city do what's right," he said. "They
can't legislate values on the municipal level. They're espousing
their own values through their decision-making whether they admit it or not.

"The fundamental basis is they don't recognize it as a medicine."