MUNICIPALITIES ADVISED TO PROCEED WITH CAUTION REGULATING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP - Addressing a standing-room-only crowd of local
government leaders from around West Michigan, attorney Dan Martin
said municipalities basically have three options for regulating
medical marijuana within their borders:

. One, do nothing and let police enforce the law as they see fit.

. Two, ban it outright and take a chance of being sued.

. Three, permit and regulate it where possible with zoning and
licensing ordinances.

"Lawful uses are permitted to continue - even if there are changes in
the zoning ordinance - as lawful, non-conforming situations," Martin said.

His lengthy presentation on the legal landscape of the state's
medical marijuana law amounted to a wealth of free legal advice
Wednesday night for local government officials and others attending
the session at the Allendale Township Hall.

The "guidance for local governments" was presented by Martin, an
attorney for Scholten Fant law firm in Grand Haven, and hosted by
Allendale in lieu of available meeting space in Ottawa County, which
helped organize the event.

Nearly 100 people packed the building to get clarification on an
issue that makes the news almost daily as a growing number of West
Michigan communities enact moratoriums on medical marijuana use in
the face of what they say is a state law open to interpretation.

The sign-in sheet listed attendees from numerous local townships,
such as Cannon, Polkton and Overisel, and cities of Holland, Zeeland,
Grand Haven and Wyoming.

"A lot of municipalities' hands are somewhat tied," said Jerry
Alkema, township supervisor in Allendale, where Martin is the
township attorney. A 12-month moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries was enacted in August.

"It's just kind of a standstill. We'll see how this plays out and
what other municipalities do and make our decisions based on that."

Martin played "Legalize It" by reggae musician Peter Tosh on his
laptop at the outset of his remarks and fielded questions that became
quite specific about certain hypothetical situations from some
audience members.

"Until all of this is cleared out through the court system or some
kind of amendment to the act, people are going to be proceeding at
their own risk," he said.

He advised municipalities against banning medical marijuana outright.

"You're probably better off not becoming a test case where you are
brought into lawsuits to determine what the parameters of the act
are," he said. "That is going to cost you a lot of money in legal
fees, and right now it's a roll of the dice whether you win or lose."

Martin said if a municipality allows for-profit dispensaries, they
may be faced with potentially nonconforming commercial uses in the
future, depending on how the law is amended by legislation or
clarified through interpretation by the courts.

"State law doesn't specifically allow dispensaries," he said. "In my
opinion, if they're not permitted under state law, they would be prohibited."

That disappointed Heather Schaffer, a marijuana patient from Jenison.

"They have so many patients approved, waiting for the card," she
said. "Without dispensaries, every other house is going to be
growing. Where's that going to end?" Martin said complying with the
law is "difficult at best" because it did not amend Michigan's public
health code, which still considers marijuana a Schedule 1 controlled substance.

"If you're trying to jump through some of these loopholes that are
there in the act, be very, very careful," he said. "You're going to
likely be found in violation."