COUNCIL TO CONSIDER ORDINANCE TO PUT A SIX-MONTH MORATORIUM ON
MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN CITY

Jackson does not have a problem with medical marijuana now, and city
officials are taking steps so it won't have one down the road.

City Council on Tuesday will consider an ordinance, written by Deputy
City Attorney Susan Murphy, to put a six-month moratorium on the
cultivation, dispensing and use of medical marijuana.

Murphy said she tried to write an ordinance regulating medical
marijuana dispensaries but the state law and court cases related to
it are so conflicting she is recommending the city wait until they
are resolved.

"This appears to be the best way to preserve the status quo as we
sort out what's happening," Murphy said.

Murphy said the city has received several calls from people
interested in opening dispensaries, but neither she nor Police Chief
Matt Heins knows of any dispensaries in the city.

Councilman John Polaczyk said other communities are struggling with
how to deal with dispensaries and council members should take the
time to study the issues before a dispensary opens here.

Heins said the law is so vague that if he received a complaint about
a medical marijuana dispensary now he would have to get a legal
interpretation from the city attorney and prosecutor before responding.

In November 2008, Michigan voters passed an initiative that permitted
the cultivation and use of marijuana for medical reasons.

In a memo to council, Murphy wrote that the Michigan Medical
Marihuana Act does not address the transfer of marijuana between
patients or the ability of a business to dispense or sell surplus
medical marijuana it gets from patients or caregivers.

Furthermore, communities that have banned the use of medical
marijuana as a violation of federal law have been sued by the
American Civil Liberties Union, and several courts have medical
marijuana issues pending, Murphy wrote.

Murphy said she hopes the courts, Legislature and Michigan Department
of Community Health can clarify the law in six months. If they can't,
council could extend the moratorium.

The Summit Township Board passed a six-month medical marijuana
moratorium in September. A dispensary that opened in Vandercook Lake
before the moratorium subsequently closed.

Zoning Coordinator John Worden said the board

will probably consider extending the moratorium in March to give the
state time to redo the medical marijuana rules.

Worden said communities such as Summit Township and Jackson have to
know what the rules are before they enforce them or face the risk of
being sued.