COMMISSION USES MML REVIEW OF MARIJUANA LAW

The Rogers City planning commission continues to study the medical
marijuana law. They are working towards initiating some type of
ordinance on the law in regards to businesses, along with the
legality of the drug. The city council has asked the planning
commission to look into the issue to establish an ordinance, if they
so choose, to spell out where co-op's for medical marijuana can
exist. The planning commission is using a local government view of
the act prepared by Gerald Fisher, a consultant to the Michigan
Municipal League and the Michigan Townships Association. The review
was prepared at their request and is meant to be a resource for
Michigan local governments in regards to the law.

Fisher is a professor of law at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in
Auburn Hills. The paper spells out the issues of the act as well as
the gray areas within it. The major issue with the act is that,
although Michigan has made the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana
legal for medical purposes to qualifying patients and registered
caregivers, under federal law, the drug is still illegal regardless of its use.

The city of Rogers City has placed a moratorium on the establishment
of any businesses pertaining to medical marijuana as they have been
looking at the law and trying to decide how to come up with a zoning
ordinance to find a place to properly zone for the types of
businesses that could exist, find a place they would fit best in the
city if they were to come about. After discussing the many questions
they had with both the review and the act in general, the planning
commission asked city manager Mark Slown to work on getting them
copies of the ordinances that already exist in other cities in
Michigan. Traverse City is one city that has an ordinance and an
established business for medical marijuana. The moratorium lasts for
another five months.

Slown is going to make an effort to try to get five or six sample
ordinances from Michigan cities that have already passed them. Once
he receives them he will get them out to the planning commission
members for them to review before the topic will be discussed again
at the January meeting of the planning commission.