COMMUNITIES STRUGGLE WITH FUZZY MARIJUANA LAWS

Holland, MI - In November 2008, 79 percent of the voters in Douglas
approved the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. That same day, voters in
Holland Township were split, with half voting for the bill and half
voting against it.

Given the nature of the two municipalities, the disparity is not
surprising.

Yet, two-and-a-half years later, officials in the liberal coastline
town in Allegan County and the conservative enclave in Ottawa County
appear to be on the same page in regard to the controversial law.

Last month, the Holland Township Board of Trustees unanimously passed
a licensing ordinance and amended a zoning ordinance that bans medical
marijuana dispensaries in the township. The new mandate limits the
growth and distribution of medical marijuana to caregivers and
patients, who must do so in their own homes.

"I think the impetus is (the board) doesn't think dispensaries are
correct. They just don't think they are allowed under the law," said
Jon Mersman, Holland Township zoning administrator. "It was never the
intent of the voters to provide for the distribution in a commercial
venue of medical marijuana. The intent was to grow your own."

Ryan Kilpatrick, zoning administrator in Douglas, said the city's
planning commission is working on an ordinance that would essentially
regulate medical marijuana as a home-based business. If approved, the
ordinance would have the same effect on dispensaries as those approved
in Holland Township -- it would outlaw them.

State law lacks direction

It's not that community leaders in Douglas are philosophically against
medical marijuana or would intentionally circumvent the will of city
residents, but Kilpatrick said the Medical Marijuana Act doesn't offer
any direction regarding marijuana dispensaries.

"The state-enabling statute has not weighed in on whether a commercial
dispensary is legal or not. I think it would be premature for us to
get into that," he said. "What a lot of communities have done that
have allowed it, is to treat primary caregivers essentially as
operating a major home occupation."

Wednesday, the city of Holland ended a moratorium by adopting an
ordinance that bans medical marijuana dispensaries and severely limits
where a state qualified caregiver can set up shop as a home-based business.

Many municipalities in the Holland area are taking a wait-and-see
approach to medical marijuana, hoping state legislators will follow
through on their promise to revisit the law now that the state budget
process is over. Those communities have enacted temporary moratoriums
banning medical marijuana dispensaries.

"What we've been hoping through a lot of this is for a little more
clarification," said Zeeland City Manager Tim Klunder, where a
marijuana moratorium expired at the end of May, but is likely to be
reinstated Monday. "We don't want to be the first (to enact an
ordinance), and we don't want to be the last."

Moratoriums questioned

At least one expert on medical marijuana thinks municipalities might
be doing their voters a disservice, and perhaps skating on legal thin
ice, if they use a moratorium as a way to avoid addressing the issue.

"(Moratoriums) are OK, but they are not an answer. Sooner or later,
when it comes to moratoriums, you are going to get a claim by someone
that it is not the proper use of a moratorium to simply avoid your
job," said attorney Mike Woodworth, president of The Hubbard Law Firm
in Lansing. "Moratoriums have been recognized in other settings as a
legitimate thing for municipalities to do so they can properly study
what their community values are, what their concerns are and where
they can get input.

"It makes sense to have a moratorium, not to wait to see what happens
to someone, but to study what your goals are in respect to medical
marijuana," he continued. "I fear what is happening is that some are
simply adopting a moratorium and saying, ‘Let's see what
(another) township does and how that works for them.' It's a very
tempting approach to take. Nobody wants to bungee jump until they see
the first three guys ahead of them."

Other local municipalities joining the cities of Holland and Zeeland
in enacting moratoriums include Fillmore Township, Heath Township,
Park Township, Zeeland Township and Saugatuck Township.

Saugatuck Township officials said it is a response to the recently
opened dispensary The Turtle Emporium.

Business fights back

Representatives of Patient Solutions 420, a medical marijuana
dispensary in Holland Township, said the township board was
specifically trying to put them out of business with the approval of
its recent licensing ordinance. Lawyers representing the dispensary
have filed a Michigan Open Meetings Act violation suit against the
township board, the township supervisor and each individual board
member in an effort to have the ordinance repealed.

Dispensary representatives also are leading a petition drive to try to
get Holland Township's ordinance repealed.

Other lawsuits have popped up around the state, very few of which have
been resolved. Woodworth, who said he voted for the Michigan Medical
Marijuana Act, said the act, and the ensuing lawsuits, have at least
accomplished one very important task.

"Marijuana has been there forever," he said. "If there is one positive
thing of the Medical Marijuana Act, it forces us to confront the fact,
which we have all known, that marijuana has been within our community
for years."