WEXFORD PLANNING AND ZONING RECEIVES INPUT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA ZONING

CADILLAC -- A public hearing on businesses related to the state's
medical marijuana law was an eye-opening experience for members of
the Wexford County Planning and Zoning Commission. The Commission
called a meeting to receive public input on the most appropriate
location for operations related to medical marijuana and whether
those operations entail growers or dispensaries.

Less than a dozen people attended the meeting to provide input on the
issue. Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Paul Osborne
occasionally had to remind individuals the matter up for debate was
where medical marijuana activity should be located, not the benefits
or dangers of using the drug.

Zoning Administrator Michael Green explained that Planning and
Zoning's authority does not extend to prohibiting medical marijuana
businesses entirely, but rather the commission should consider
whether to designate rural or urban areas as appropriate locations
for the businesses. Green said the Michigan Planning Act requires a
county to allow for any use as long as there is a demonstrated need.

"More likely than not, we will have to allow it somewhere in the
county," Green said.

Wexford County, like Haring Township and the City of Cadillac, has
enacted a moratorium on marijuana businesses in order to examine the
zoning issue. Voters approved the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in 2008.

Gayle Hanna, a nurse who is a part-time resident of Slagle Township
and a member of the City of Midland Planning Commission, said she has
seen both the good and the bad sides of the issue, and said she is
opposed to medical marijuana collectives which dispense the drug,
especially since there are legal alternatives available for pain
relief. Hanna said Midland has been able to carefully craft an
ordinance which she believes will stand up to legal challenges from
medical marijuana suppliers and the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I encourage you to take a good look at this," Hanna said.

At least part of the meeting involved the commission asking questions
about certain terms, such as the difference between a compassion club
and a dispensary and caregiver. Twinn Bridges Compassion Club
co-owner Chris Gee explained that both compassion clubs and
dispensaries are essentially the same thing, while caregivers are
individuals licensed to grow marijuana for up to five patients.

Vice Chairman Corey Wiggins shared other communities' approach to the
issue, such as Roseville forbidding growing as a home occupation, and
Hartford permitting only doctors and other medical professionals to
dispense it -- an approach that Wiggins said may be overstepping legal bounds.

Wiggins suggested the commission should keep in mind the different
activities when determining zoning, whether the rules apply to
caregivers who are permitted to grow marijuana or to dispensaries.
Commissioner Beverly Monroe suggested taking a two-pronged approach
- -- considering caregivers and dispensaries each on their own.

Comments relating to zoning leaned heavily toward allowing operations
in urban settings rather than rural settings.

Other ideas included limiting the number of dispensaries allowed
based on population or density, enacting licensing requirements and
prohibiting businesses from locating a certain distance from schools,
churches and hospitals.