GENESEE COUNTY GOVERNMENTS CHOOSING MORATORIUMS TO FIGURE OUT
REGULATIONS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Advocates Call Resolutions Delay Tactics

DAVISON TOWNSHIP, Michigan - Medical marijuana patients won't be
buying marijuana in the township before 2013 if the township board
has its way. While the small township has allowed medical marijuana
businesses to open, several other county governments have approved
moratoriums to further discuss regulations.

The board on Monday put a two-year moratorium on issuing permits for
marijuana dispensaries and any other commercial marijuana businesses.

The state chapter head of a medical marijuana advocacy group believes
the two-year limit goes too far.

"That's pretty radical and possibly even illegal," said Tim Beck of
Americans for Safe Access. "(Moratoriums) are meant to be temporary.
Six months is not uncommon. This is way out."

The board opted for the two-year moratorium after township planning
and building administrator Randall Stewart suggested waiting until
legal issues over the law are ironed out.

"It's my personal belief that the state is going to have to step up
and answer some of the questions," Stewart said. "I felt two years
was going to be a safe timeline until cases are settled."

Board trustee Matthew Karr voted against the two-year extension,
advocating instead a six-month timeline.

"It's something we need to address earlier than (2013)," said Karr.

Supervisor Kurt Soper said the issue could be brought up again sooner
if issues are resolved and the township continues to monitor the situation.

"We're not ignoring this in any sense of the word," he said. "On the
contrary, we probably are proactive."

Davison Township is not alone in delaying policy on the issue.

Flushing, Mundy Township, Clayton Township, Fenton, Mt. Morris
Township, Flint, Swartz Creek and Linden already have dispensary
moratoriums in place.

"It's just a way of getting out from under their responsibility,"
Beck said. "I think what's really going on here is local public
officials are hoping that the legislature is going to do their work for them."

Beck dismissed contentions that dispensaries would be illegal because
medical marijuana is still outlawed by the federal government.

"These localities are only creatures of state law," said Beck. "They
do not report (directly) to the federal government."

Court cases are pending in Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham and Wyoming
because of laws passed that banned medical marijuana businesses and
even smoking by patients, said Beck.

Beck acknowledged the state's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 does
leave some gray areas, in terms of the guidelines in opening
dispensaries or compassion clubs, but he said those businesses are
"hybrid facilities" that popped up after the law was passed.

Swartz Creek planning commission and council member C. David Hurt
said action should take place in his city after a 90-day moratorium
was passed Feb. 23 to etch out an ordinance.

"We need to do something because the state says this is a legal
thing. We need to control it. I think this proposed ordinance does
that," Hurt said.

"I don't think we should be arbitrary, I think that's how you head
down the path to legal challenges and so forth."

Beck said it falls on communities to figure out their regulations and
enact them. While some have embraced the businesses, such as Ann
Arbor and Ypsilanti, some governments are still unsure.

"Other communities are just caught in the middle... they don't know
what to do," he said. "They are afraid to act."