CITY COUNCIL STALLS OVER POT DECISION

East Lansing City Council is expected to approve a 90-day extension
on a moratorium preventing the regulation of medical marijuana sales
and distribution.

The council voted to introduce the ordinance at its work session last
Tuesday but does not approve items at work sessions unless they are
deemed an emergency, Assistant City Attorney Tom Yeadon said.

Council is considering three ordinances: one that would allow
storefront dispensaries, another that would license primary caregiver
operations and a third that only would allow registered patients and
primary caregivers to grow medical marijuana.

Council will vote on the issue during its 7:30 p.m. work session
tonight at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road.

If approved, the extension will retroactively extend the moratorium
until February 2011, Yeadon said. The initial moratorium would have
expired today.

"It's written to extend from the expiration of the last one and it's
intended that if there's a gap between the two that it covers that as
it applies retroactively," Yeadon said.

The original moratorium would have expired before two planned
meetings about the issue - one in the Planning Commission and another
at city council, Councilmember Nathan Triplett said.

Extending the moratorium allows for the opportunity to hold those
meetings, he said.

"The objective of passing it now is that the moratorium continues
uninterrupted as we decide how to approach the issue," Triplett said.

The moratorium could last the full 90 days, but if both planned
hearings are held in December and the council is ready to make a
decision, it could vote to pass an ordinance, he said.

"We should take the time to get it right but do so as expeditiously
as possible," Triplett said.

There is no pressure for a decision to be made by the end of the
year, City Manager Ted Staton said. Council members seem to be
narrowing the potential options for regulation but still are a "far
cry" away from a consensus, he said.

"We're more concerned about getting it right," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union recently contacted the city and
wished to give input on the issues, Staton said.

"I don't see why we won't create additional opportunities for public
testimony on it," he said. East Lansing is taking a comprehensive
approach to the regulation of medical marijuana, Staton said. Other
jurisdictions, such as Lansing and Meridian Township, are taking a
hands-off approach and the results are not desirable for East Lansing, he said.

"We've taken exactly the right approach, which is to keep them for
creeping in anywhere they want," Staton said.

There are multiple dispensaries on Michigan Avenue in Lansing and a
dispensary near an elementary school in Meridian Township, he said.
East Lansing officials are looking to avoid both of those situations,
Staton said.

Meridian Township does not intend to pass any regulations on the
dispensary and sales of medical marijuana, Township Supervisor Susan
McGillicuddy said.

The "herbal center" near the elementary school in East Lansing is
further from stores selling liquor and alcohol and only is regulated
as a business, she said.