HOLLAND TOWNSHIP TIGHTENING MEDICAL POT RULES

Holland, MI - Medical marijuana dispensaries such as one on East
Eighth Street would be banned in Holland Township under the latest
version of a proposed township ordinance. So would patients or
caregivers growing medical marijuana in apartments, condos or other
multi-unit housing.

The fourth draft of a proposed ordinance under consideration is more
specific and more strict than previous versions.

"There won't even be a compassion club where you can swap stories and
hold someone's hand - if there is any kind of (medical marijuana
transfer) related activity," township Zoning Administrator Jon Mersman said.

After a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, a public hearing is planned
for next month before the township planning commission would vote on
sending the ordinance to the full township board. The commission also
looked at revising zoning ordinances to allow only activities
specifically listed.

The law targets Patient Solutions 420, at 575 E. Eighth St., the
dispensary's Community Outreach Director Monica Bakker said.

"They would have to apply for a license and ultimately their
application would be denied based on the fact that they are a
dispensary," Mersman said.

If the ordinance is approved, the dispensary would sue, Bakker said.

"We would like to focus on patients and not an unfortunate lawsuit
with Holland Township that could be long and very costly for both of
us," she said.

The state law passed nearly three years ago allows a state-approved
patient to grow up to 12 plants for his or her own use and approved
caregivers to grow for up to five patients.

In a "multi-family unit," such as a duplex, apartment or condo
building, 72 marijuana plants create a lot of traffic and a lot of
smell and the equipment used to grow the plants increases the
potential for fires, Mersman said.

"Even a patient would not be able to grow in a multi-family
situation," he said. "It's very, very disruptive."

Patient Solutions 420's lawyer, Thomas Lavigne, in a letter calls the
ordinance discriminatory, saying it violates the right to farm, right
to privacy, right to medicate and the equal protection clause of the
U.S. Constitution.

Lavigne argues employees are also patients, and those transfers are protected.

"I keep reading the law. I cannot get to the point where you can have
a dispensary business," Mersman said. "That extends the law beyond
what it says and beyond, I think, what the voters' intent was."