BRIEF HALT OK ON NEW MEDICAL POT FACILITIES

ADRIAN, Mich. - With budget issues the top concern for Lenawee County
officials in 2010, most communities have not had time to deal with
the medical marijuana legal mess dumped on them by poorly conceived
state and federal laws. To properly design local rules, a proposed
120-day Adrian city moratorium on new facilities dispensing medical
marijuana makes sense and should be adopted.

To be clear, local officials should not follow in the footsteps of
several other Michigan cities such as Livonia, Birmingham, Bloomfield
Hills and Wyoming that have banned medical marijuana within their
cities. Those cities cite federal law banning marijuana possession
and a Supreme Court ruling upholding the federal prohibition's
supremacy over contrasting state laws.

However, such local bans defy the will of state voters, who in every
region of Michigan overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana through
a 2008 state ballot initiative. Unfortunately, the state law as
passed failed to clear up many questions - such as the sale of
marijuana - and gave cities little direction on zoning or other
regulations for such dispensaries. The draft zoning ordinance from
the Michigan Municipal League would have created unrealistically
small limits on the number of patients a dispensary could serve and
where they could be located.

Because of the legal mess, Adrian officials should move carefully and
consider similar local zoning efforts. Tecumseh has a six-month
moratorium that will expire in February. Madison Township approved a
moratorium in November that could last up to a year.

It is important to note that Adrian's proposed moratorium would not
affect existing facilities, nor registered patients and care givers
who grow marijuana in their own homes. Such activity was clearly what
voters did not want officials preventing. However, like bars and
other businesses that sell controlled substances, facilities
providing marijuana commercially should follow commercial area zoning
tailored to each particular community.

Good planning can prevent future headaches for local officials, as
well as for dispensary owners if retroactive changes become
necessary. A four-month halt to new dispensaries can be time well
spent if officials and supporters work together to create standards
that everyone can live with.