ORGANIZER TURNS IN SIGNATURES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA BALLOT MEASURE IN KALAMAZOO

KALAMAZOO -- Chris Chiles says his group, Kalamazoo Coalition for
Compassionate Care, has collected 2,751 signatures on petitions
seeking support for a ballot measure that would amend Kalamazoo's
charter to permit medical marijuana dispensaries in commercial districts.

Kalamazoo City Deputy Clerk Virginia Vander Roest said Chiles needed
to turn in 2,567 signatures -- 5 percent of the city's registered
voters as of Tuesday when the petitions were filed -- to appear on a
ballot in Kalamazoo.

The clerk's office is in the process of checking the validity of the
signatures, which Chiles said he cross-referenced to ensure they had
the requisite number.

The proposed ballot language would read, "Shall the Kalamazoo City
Charter be amended such that three (3) medical cannabis dispensaries
are permitted within the city limits?"

Chiles has said that this proposed addition to the city's charter
would stand alongside Kalamazoo zoning ordinance rules that permit
medical marijuana dispensaries as home-based businesses.

But he feels those regulations are too restrictive, including that
just one caregiver in single dwelling can assist medical marijuana
patients who do not live at the home.

The coalition's amendment language describes a medical cannabis
dispensary as a business with "one or more registered qualifying
patients and registered primary caregivers operating at a fixed
location for the purpose of selling cannabis at that location to any
persons whose medical use of marihauna is protected under the Michigan
Medical Marihuana Act."

If the clerk's office certifies the signatures as valid, the petition
language then must be reviewed by the state attorney general and
governor's offices before it appears as a local ballot question.