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Municipalities cannot enact ordinances that criminalize medical marijuana patients' lawful use of the drug, according to a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling issued Wednesday.
A three-judge panel overturned an ordinance enacted by the city of Wyoming – a Grand Rapids suburb – that sought to regulate cultivation of medical marijuana under federal prohibitions against manufacturing and distributing cannabis.
"Defendant's ordinance is void and unenforceable to the extent that it purports to sanction the medical use of marijuana in conformity with the" Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, appeals judges Joel P. Hoekstra, Douglas B. Shapiro and William C. Whitbeck wrote in their opinion handed down Tuesday and released Wednesday.
John Ter Beek, a 60-year-old diabetic from Wyoming, has been a registered medical marijuana patient since May 2009 and grows his own cannabis at home as permitted under the law. He sued to challenge a Wyoming city ordinance implemented in November 2010 that made marijuana cultivation a zoning violation.
The appellate court ruled the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act gives qualified patients immunity from municipal zoning sanctions. The judges also concluded the state medical marijuana law's limited immunity for patients does not interfere with federal enforcement of controlled substances laws.
The ruling could have broad implications for communities seeking to regulate medical marijuana growing and distribution through zoning ordinances in the on going legal battles over the 2008 voter-enacted law.
"It will keep other communities from banning medical marijuana," Ter Beek told The Detroit News. "Which I'm sure there are some very conservative communities that would have had I not won."
The ACLU of Michigan, which took on Ter Beek's case, is challenging similar ordinances in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia.
"This really will put an end to those ordinances, as well," said Dan Korobkin, staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. "The Court of Appeals decision yesterday is a major victory for medical marijuana patients all over Michigan."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: detroitnews.com
Author: Chad Livengood
Contact: Contact The Detroit News | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
Website: Appeals court blocks ordinances that ban medical marijuana growing | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
A three-judge panel overturned an ordinance enacted by the city of Wyoming – a Grand Rapids suburb – that sought to regulate cultivation of medical marijuana under federal prohibitions against manufacturing and distributing cannabis.
"Defendant's ordinance is void and unenforceable to the extent that it purports to sanction the medical use of marijuana in conformity with the" Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, appeals judges Joel P. Hoekstra, Douglas B. Shapiro and William C. Whitbeck wrote in their opinion handed down Tuesday and released Wednesday.
John Ter Beek, a 60-year-old diabetic from Wyoming, has been a registered medical marijuana patient since May 2009 and grows his own cannabis at home as permitted under the law. He sued to challenge a Wyoming city ordinance implemented in November 2010 that made marijuana cultivation a zoning violation.
The appellate court ruled the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act gives qualified patients immunity from municipal zoning sanctions. The judges also concluded the state medical marijuana law's limited immunity for patients does not interfere with federal enforcement of controlled substances laws.
The ruling could have broad implications for communities seeking to regulate medical marijuana growing and distribution through zoning ordinances in the on going legal battles over the 2008 voter-enacted law.
"It will keep other communities from banning medical marijuana," Ter Beek told The Detroit News. "Which I'm sure there are some very conservative communities that would have had I not won."
The ACLU of Michigan, which took on Ter Beek's case, is challenging similar ordinances in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia.
"This really will put an end to those ordinances, as well," said Dan Korobkin, staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. "The Court of Appeals decision yesterday is a major victory for medical marijuana patients all over Michigan."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: detroitnews.com
Author: Chad Livengood
Contact: Contact The Detroit News | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
Website: Appeals court blocks ordinances that ban medical marijuana growing | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
