On Tuesday, February 14, the Mason Planning Commission moved forward with its continued discussion regarding medical marijuana by placing an ordinance amendment on the March 13th agenda for public hearing. This ordinance is purposed to restrict any planning or zoning uses that conflict with federal, state, or local laws. Due to federal laws regarding the criminalization of marijuana possession and use, this ordinance would effectively prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries and cooperatives within the city of Mason. Though the State of Michigan allows the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, this city ordinance recognizes the opposition between state and federal law, and thereby recognizes the supremacy of federal law. Placing the ordinance on the agenda for public hearing is the first of many steps that still need to be taken before this law goes into effect; nonetheless, at this stage I wanted to provide a brief overview of what is going on and why this action is being pursued.
In November 2008, 62.7% of Michigan voters supported the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA), a legislative initiative to allow the medical use of marijuana under state law. Since its inception, the act has provided a legal basis for the use of marijuana within an approved medical context; however, the act has also created much controversy regarding local law enforcement of criminal uses, and local government regulation of permitted uses. Many communities have been sued over their regulation practices, while other communities without such regulations have not been able to effectively control or monitor the dispensaries and home occupation operations that have been created. Moreover, communities that try to create regulations after these operations have commenced often find themselves in additional litigation with no clear path forward.
In December 2010, the City of Mason decided to take action on this issue in order to prevent possible litigation and other unintended consequences of the MMMA. The city council passed Ordinance No. 180, which defined the extent of medical marijuana operations within the city, and set forth a licensing requirement for such operations. The city council also concurrently passed Resolution No. 2010-45, which declared a temporary moratorium (180 days) on the issuance of licenses for medical marijuana operations within the city. This approach, which has been taken by several other communities in Michigan, established a basic set of regulations, but also prevented any medical marijuana operations from taking place in the short term. This action allowed the city to continue to study the issue and also monitor pending litigation in other communities across the state. In May of 2011, the city council issued a second 180-day moratorium to allow further time to study and evaluate the legal issues. Subsequently, the council also asked the planning commission to study the issue from a zoning perspective and make a recommendation for council consideration.
Throughout the remainder of 2011, the planning commission along with the director of the zoning and development department, conducted research, attended meetings and workshops, and even held a joint work session with the city council to discuss the various issues surrounding the MMMA. Recognizing the need for additional time, and the fact that numerous legal issues were still pending in court, the city council issued a third 180-day moratorium in December 2011.
After extensive study and debate on several potential approaches, the planning commission has decided to move forward with an approach taken by the City of Livonia, MI. This approach prohibits dispensaries and cooperatives based on the argument that the MMMA is superseded by federal law (Wyckoff, Mark. Planning and Zoning News, October 2011). The commission also considered creating an ordinance that could permit medical marijuana as a home occupation or dispensary/cooperative operation; however, there was no consensus on this approach. Furthermore, the commission had a strong desire to obtain public input regarding moving forward with the “Livonia Approach”. As a result the commission drafted an ordinance amendment with the federal declaratory judgment language and has placed the item on the agenda for public hearing. This means that any member of the public is welcome to come to the March 13th planning commission meeting and share their thoughts or concerns on this issue.
As a member of the planning commission, and as a concerned resident of the community, I can attest that this has been a very complex and convoluted issue. Our intent has never been to usurp the will of the people in allowing for the controlled and regulated use of marijuana for strictly medicinal purposes. At the same time, the commission wanted to ensure that the city acted within the bounds of all applicable laws and that the city would also have solid legal standing in the event of litigation.
As we move toward the public hearing next month, I look forward to hearing various points of view on this issue. I am personally undecided on the “right” approach but I have an open mind and I am committed to doing what’s best for our community. Most of all, I think that we all want Mason to remain a safe, vibrant, family-oriented community that continues to attract new residents and businesses. I am confident that our actions will support this vision for our community.
I hope this overview has been helpful in your understanding of the subject at hand and I welcome your thoughts.
Additional information may be found at the following URL: http://www.mml.org/resources/information/mi-med-marihuana.html
here are a few of my concerns on the issue, i am completely with Kelly on the fact that local city governments should first side with state law over federal government law. what has the federal government done in the past 30 that was REALLY for the people besides stringing them along on unemployment bennies forever. i am not a fan of federal government and its sad that little old mason is trying to over reach like the federal government. "In November 2008, 62.7% of Michigan voters supported the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA), a legislative initiative to allow the medical use of marijuana under state law" you said it your self right there. and that's where it should end. if mason wanted to take a different stance on medial marijuana then it should come up with its OWN plan, not take one from another city or county. that is just plan laziness. anyone that agrees with the "Livonia plan" should be revealed of their duties. if mason really needs its own laws on medical marijuana it should come up with its own plan not some copy cat bullshit. Nancy Cotter had it right every time she opened her mouth. over reach of government no matter at what level fed, state, local is bad. at this point the federal government has got everyone into a financial mess, local governments should be coming up with ways to help the people of the community make the community stronger, better place to live. the focus should be on getting company's into mason for JOBS, there should be planning of events that will get the community together. also i think there should some kind of disaster plan set up because when the power went out last year for 3 days no one knew what to do, had everyone running around town. there needs to be a plan for that kind of thing. basically what im saying is the PC spent way too much time on a law that's already been passed by the state and last time i checked mason was in Michigan. so stick with the law that's already there and move on to IMPORTANT THINGS FOR THE COMMUNITY. which brings me to my next issue which is ar-15 assault rifles for the mason police.. MASON IS NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. guns are not the way to go, it will divide the people, the scare statics the government uses on its citizens is not how mason should handle things when they go bad. instead of guns for when things go bad how about coming up with a plan to make the town sustainable on its own with out federal government help so if things do get bad at the federal level you wont have people going all crazy trying to break into the police station to steal ar15 assault riles, if things gets so bad that we need ar15 assault riles then i hope our community can come together and help each other out and feed each other. a strong community sounds so much better than a weak community that needs to use force with guns.
ReplyDeletealso thanks for having an open mind from watching the videos not many other board members do.
Josh Curtis