UNION TOWNSHIP MEDICAL MARIJUANA ZONING, LICENSING LAW LIKELY TO REMAIN USEFUL

Union Township's new laws regulating the location and operation of
medical marijuana-related businesses might appear to be in limbo after
the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled against a Mt. Pleasant dispensary.

"We were proactive on this," said Planning Commission Chairman Phil
Squattrito. "We hope that this wasn't for naught."

But a close reading of the ruling that against Mt. Pleasant's CA
dispensary, formerly called the Compassionate Apothecary, would appear
to indicate that the panel rejected only one method of getting medical
marijuana to registered medical marijuana patients.

"It did not say that there's not a model out there that would work,"
said township Zoning Administrator Woody Woodruff.

The township adopted laws earlier this summer that allow medical
marijuana dispensaries - no matter how they operate - to locate only
in commercial zones. It also sets minimum distances between
dispensaries and uses such as parks, churches and schools.

The laws also restrict growing operations to industrial zones. The
township also would issue licenses for dispensaries and growing
operations, licenses issued with an eye toward ensuring they operated
safely.

Woodruff said he's not aware of litigation involving growing
operations, but he's reasonably confident that some operator of a
growing operation will end up in court somewhere.

"The only cases I'm aware of involve patients themselves," Woodruff
said. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act permits registered patients
or licensed caregivers to grow up to 12 marijuana plants without
facing prosecution.

Caregivers each may have up to five patients, and may grow for
themselves if they also are registered as patients. That could mean as
many as 72 plants at various stages of growth.

Township planners envisioned the desire for someone who wanted to grow
medical marijuana for themselves and a number of patients to move the
operation out of their homes. Growers might want to share an
industrial building, for example, with adequate wiring for grow lights
and water supply for the plants.

The most recent case involving a grower was a Montmorency County man
who was growing marijuana before receiving his patient card. The court
of appeals ruled he couldn't do that, and narcotics police were within
their rights to arrest him, even though he had the card by the time he
got busted.

Woodruff said he had had three "serious inquiries" about dispensaries
before the township adopted its laws. One dispensary actually opened
briefly, but it shut down after the township determined it was
operating in the wrong zone and without a license.