Grosse Pointe Woods

Woods extends medical marijuana moratorium

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Entrepreneurs with dreams of opening a medical marijuana dispensary will need to either put those dreams on hold or find a new location for their business.

As the legal debate around medical marijuana continues to swirl, the City Council once again approved an extension to a land use moratorium that blocks such dispensaries in the city. At a Feb. 6 City Council meeting, City Administrator Alfred Fincham said the council unanimously approved extending the moratorium for another six months. It had been slated to expire Feb. 16, City Attorney Chip Berschback said. Berschback recommended the moratorium extension — which would expire in mid-August — but said he planned to have a related ordinance much sooner than that for the council to approve. Modeled on one in Livonia that has been replicated in other cities, Berschback said, the ordinance would block any activity prohibited by federal law.

Although it is now legal in Michigan to use and sell medical marijuana, the drug is still illegal on the federal level.

On Nov. 4, 2008, Michigan voters approved the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which allows a qualified caregiver to grow and sell medical marijuana under tightly regulated circumstances. In 2010, Grosse Pointe City Attorney Charles Kennedy III said under the new state law, such caregivers are permitted to grow a maximum of 60 marijuana plants and distribute the drug to up to five patients. The sale or use of marijuana for recreational purposes remains illegal in Michigan.

Berschback said the ordinance is expected to be on the agenda for the February Planning Commission meeting, which is when a public hearing will be scheduled.

The moratorium also prohibits the creation of medical marijuana training centers or schools in the city.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1047.