Clinton Township Set To Form Marijuana Committee

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI — Clinton Township officials are planning to get ahead of the curve on Michigan’s changing medical marijuana laws. A five-person “Medical Marijuana Ordinance Exploratory Committee” is expected to be proposed by Supervisor Robert Cannon at Tuesday township board meeting.

In a letter to Trustees, Cannon said the group will consult with legal and industry experts who understand the nuances of the issue and the anticipated impact it will have. The committee will determine whether the township will allow any medical marijuana licenses and adopt an ordinance that would let license holders to grow or dispense pot, according to a Macomb Daily report.

“I am not an advocate for the production or use of legalization of recreational marijuana, but we, as a township board, cannot put our heads in the sand and hope this issue will got away,” Cannon said in the letter. “Medical marijuana is on our doorstep and recreational marijuana is not far behind.”

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In 2008, Michigan voters legalized the use of medical marijuana. The state legislature approved new regulations last fall to clarify the law by addressing issues regulating its growing and legalization, the Macomb Daily reported.

The new regulatory system, expected to be in place by the end of the year, is hoped to bring order to medical marijuana distribution. The lack of, or vagueness, of regulations has been criticized for leading to criminal prosecutions of people who thought they were complying with the intent of the ballot proposal, the newspaper reported.

The new laws create three classes of growers: people who can grow up to 500 plants, up to 1,000 plants or up to 1,500 plants. Five classes of licenses — those for growers, testing facilities, transporters, provisioning centers and dispensaries will also be created. Communities can decide whether and where they’ll allow dispensaries to operate and charge an annual fee of up to $5,000 per dispensary.

Macomb County had 229 registered medical marijuana patients in 2011 and 19,455 in 2016, according to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The number of caregivers in Macomb last year stood at 3,304,the Macomb Daily reported.

“This is not an easy topic to discuss,” Cannon wrote in the letter. “Indeed, it is a highly divisive and controversial subject. ... If we choose to ignore this subject, then we lose.”

Photo by Taki Lau via Flickr Commons