COLEMAN APPROVES MORATORIUM ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

Interested business owners face a nine month moratorium on medical
marijuana dispensaries, or compassion clubs, in Coleman.

The city council has approved the moratorium, which prevents medical
marijuana dispensaries from opening for 270 days, Mayor Gene Robinson
said.

"All that does is put everything on hold until we have time to redact
an ordinance," he said. "You've got to have some way to control
(marijuana dispensaries)."

The city has not received any complaints, Robinson said. The measure
is preventive; the city didn't want to attract people who had been
turned away by other municipalities with stricter restrictions.

Coleman is looking at other municipalities for inspiration, but is
drafting its own ordinance, said Planning Commission Chair Jim Young.

Current plans for the ordinance would structure it like alcohol sales,
where the dispensaries are allowed a certain distance from churches,
schools and other similar buildings, Robinson said. But plans are very
tentative.

"I don't really know what the final result is going to look like,"
Young said. "The way the law was written, it was left to be
interpreted."

Young said the state law does not specifically allow for compassion
clubs and that communities are taking many different interpretations
on it.

The city is interested in getting the best ordinance possible, he
said. The council is willing to extend the 270-day moratorium if needed.

"It's just planning ahead, knowing that (people are going to want to
build a compassion club) sooner or later," Robinson said.