UNION TOWNSHIP COULD ADOPT MEDICAL MARIJUANA MORATORIUM

Union Township leaders are set to consider a plan to impose a
six-month moratorium on permitting medical marijuana dispensaries,
compassion clubs and similar uses while the township develops rules
to regulate where they can be.

"We do not want to stand between patients and their medicine," said
township zoning administrator Woody Woodruff. "We've got to be clear
that we're not doing that."

But it has become clear that the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act,
passed by voters in 2008, leaves a great deal of discretion to local
governments.

"It's no longer even debatable that there are gray areas in the law
that need to be addressed by local ordinances," Woodruff said.

The moratorium, he said, would allow the second-largest municipality
in central Michigan time to write and pass those ordinances.

What's most likely is that the regulations would be adopted as part
of the township's zoning law. Changing that law is a process that
takes at least three months.

"We can control the time, place and manner," Woodruff said.

The voter-adopted law makes it legal for a licensed caregiver to
supply a licensed patient with marijuana, and allows the caregiver to
grow a supply of cannabis in an enclosed, locked facility. But it
says nothing about the kinds of groups and businesses that have
sprung up since its passage, including so-called apothecaries,
dispensaries, compassion clubs and similar groups.

Where those should go in a community apparently is up to the
community to legislate.

"Because this was a right given to individuals," Woodruff said, "if
could mean that people can use it in their homes."

It's not clear if pushing those activities into commercial or
industrial areas is appropriate or not, he said.

In addition, the very act of regulating could have a privacy
component, Woodruff said. Special use permits, zoning changes and
permits all are public.

"You have to avoid the scenario where people's private medical
information is available through the Freedom of Information Act," he noted.

The first step could come as early as Wednesday, when the township
board is to meet at 7 p.m. to consider whether to impose the
moratorium. The next week, Feb. 16, the planning commission is to get
a briefing from a law firm on the options available to local planners.

One medical marijuana dispensary is now open in the city of Mt.
Pleasant, and a second one is possible. A dispensary also is open in Weidman.

The village of Lake Isabella has already adopted an ordinance that
classifies an individual medical marijuana caregiver as a "home
occupation," not subject to further village review. At the same time,
it outlaws medical marijuana dispensaries, where groups of caregivers
provide medical marijuana to groups of patients.

Woodruff said he's been contacted about a so-called "compassion club"
and a grower co-op that could go into Union Township. Those could not
go forward until regulations are in place.

"There will be public hearings," Woodruff said.