Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Marijuana, whether medicinal or recreational use, is a hot topic in Michigan.
While a group is collecting signatures in hopes of making the legalization of recreational use in Michigan a ballot issue, governmental officials at various levels are navigating and making decisions on medical marijuana facilities.
Despite a state law, Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act of 2008, the issue is decidedly local at this time with county prosecutors and local governments playing key roles.
The village of Fruitport, population 1,100, recently took center stage. The village council considered during a June meeting a proposal for a medical marijuana dispensary.
The facility, proposed by a local lawyer and former council member, would have put a grow operation and a dispensary on Third Avenue in the heart of the town.
The village council took the first step to denying the proposed dispensary last month. Council members are scheduled to consider final approval of a resolution at a July 25 meeting.
It is not the first time a Muskegon-area municipality has taken action to outlaw medical marijuana dispensaries.
In addition to banning the facilities in their city, Norton Shores council members created fines to cover legal costs that could emerge if a dispensary opens and the city has to go to court to shut it down.
Fruitport's consideration and action also likely won't be the last of the issue in the area.
Where Muskegon-area towns stand on medical marijuana dispensaries
A local proposal
In February 2017, a man named Jason Kolkema submitted a proposal to the village of Fruitport proposing medical marijuana facilities, a grow operation and a dispensary.
The village -- one square mile in Muskegon County -- didn't immediately dismiss it. Kolkema was a former member of the village council and young lawyer practicing in Muskegon County, who grew up in the house where he is now proposing to run the dispensary, and whose father once ran business out of the metal shop at the location.
But now, his family isn't using either of the two buildings personally, and has had trouble finding tenants for the metal shop, Kolkema said. Development along Third Avenue has been sluggish.
"For many, many years my dad has tried to rent out his building," Kolkema said. "It just made sense to pursue this."
Kolkema points out that in 2016, Muskegon County had 4,322 registered medical marijuana patients and 680 caregivers. Some patients currently drive to Lansing to fill their prescriptions, he said.
Kolkema said he doesn't hold a medical marijuana card himself but doesn't see any stigma to marijuana as medicine. He acknowledged early on it was a classic NIMBY issue -- like adult video stores, or a fast food restaurant, nobody wants one in their backyard.
But even Kolkema was surprised at the turnout to a village's public hearing on his proposal. About 120 people -- roughly 10 percent of the village population, but Kolkema argues not all of them were village residents -- turned out to the meeting.
The vast majority of them were opposed to having a medical marijuana dispensary in the village. Kolkema called the meeting "Reefer Madness" likening it to the 1936 alarmist film.
"People are just kind of up in arms about this," he said.
The village council was listening. On June 27, while Kolkema fumed quietly from the audience, the council voted 6-1 to create a resolution against any medical marijuana in the village.
"Nobody wants it," Village Councilwoman Donna Pope said.
The village council is set to approve the new resolution at its Tuesday, June 25 meeting.
Fruitport votes against medical marijuana facilities
Strong stance in Muskegon
Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson has actively campaigned across the state against the recreational use of marijuana.
At one such townhall-type presentation in Detroit to a group of doctors, he was accompanied by a representative from the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.
"We're not actively running around looking for this stuff," Hilson said, adding that marijuana enforcement takes a back seat to addressing the epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse. Marijuana cases that involve the youth or traffic accidents get more of his attention than simple possession charges, he said.
Of course, that could change too. The week Hilson gave the interview, a group called Michigan Legalize collected signatures outside the courthouse where he works, hoping to put recreational use of marijuana on a statewide ballot in 2018.
Hilson's strong stance against recreational marijuana is underlined by enforcement of medical marijuana rules, helping shut down several unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries in downtown Muskegon in recent years. He also recently played a role in advising the village of Fruitport with a written letter summarizing the law.
Hilson maintains that medical marijuana users who carefully follow the rules are not the problem.
"It's the folks that instead of growing 72 plants, were growing 200" that face prosecution," he said. "We've had that."
Lakeshore marijuana cases
Marijuana may be legal for those with medical marijuana cards in Michigan, but it still accounts for a sizable amount of illicit drug traffic on the West Michigan shoreline.
Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Andy Fias is the section commander of WEMET, the law-enforcement group that enforces drug laws in the three lakeshore counties of Muskegon, Ottawa and Allegan.
In recent years, prosecutors in all three counties have been very supportive of the team's efforts to stop unlicensed dispensaries and illegal traffic of marijuana for recreational use.
During the 2016 calendar year, WEMET seized 223 pounds of marijuana flowers and buds, 1,304 marijuana plants and 35 pounds of marijuana hash oil, Fias said.
Some of those seizures came from closing down unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries.
"We've done a real good job of closing them down in Muskegon County," Fias said. "They still are very much illegal. We get our tips on them and shut them down."
Other communities in the state of Michigan are more lax, Fias said. For instance, unlicensed dispensaries operate within the city of Lansing.
Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 allowed medical marijuana care givers to assist five other patients with medical marijuana cards, and grow 12 marijuana plants per patient -- or a total 72 plants.
Fias said WEMET has been very fair to medical marijuana caregivers -- educating them about what they need to do to stay compliant, and not seizing all their plants for minor compliance errors.
Most caregivers try to stay compliant, he said. One of the requirements is protecting your marijuana plants from outsiders, and some growers meet that requirement by fencing in their plants on all sides, and even covering them with chain links.
Fias said that in Ottawa and Muskegon counties, the medical marijuana act has decreased the number of illegal marijuana grows in the countryside. Each year, law enforcement search by aircraft under the Domestic Cannabis Eradication program.
Michigan has taken the first steps toward building the legal framework for medical marijuana dispensaries, with Gov. Rick Snyder recently announcing members of a committee that would policy governing medical marijuana dispensaries.
But Fias said it's not clear which state or local agency would handle regulation of dispensaries in the future.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Village's medical-marijuana action highlights controversial issue | MLive.com
Author: Stephen Kloosterman
Contact: MLive contacts, services and support | MLive Contacts - MLive.com
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Michigan Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - MLive.com
While a group is collecting signatures in hopes of making the legalization of recreational use in Michigan a ballot issue, governmental officials at various levels are navigating and making decisions on medical marijuana facilities.
Despite a state law, Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act of 2008, the issue is decidedly local at this time with county prosecutors and local governments playing key roles.
The village of Fruitport, population 1,100, recently took center stage. The village council considered during a June meeting a proposal for a medical marijuana dispensary.
The facility, proposed by a local lawyer and former council member, would have put a grow operation and a dispensary on Third Avenue in the heart of the town.
The village council took the first step to denying the proposed dispensary last month. Council members are scheduled to consider final approval of a resolution at a July 25 meeting.
It is not the first time a Muskegon-area municipality has taken action to outlaw medical marijuana dispensaries.
In addition to banning the facilities in their city, Norton Shores council members created fines to cover legal costs that could emerge if a dispensary opens and the city has to go to court to shut it down.
Fruitport's consideration and action also likely won't be the last of the issue in the area.
Where Muskegon-area towns stand on medical marijuana dispensaries
A local proposal
In February 2017, a man named Jason Kolkema submitted a proposal to the village of Fruitport proposing medical marijuana facilities, a grow operation and a dispensary.
The village -- one square mile in Muskegon County -- didn't immediately dismiss it. Kolkema was a former member of the village council and young lawyer practicing in Muskegon County, who grew up in the house where he is now proposing to run the dispensary, and whose father once ran business out of the metal shop at the location.
But now, his family isn't using either of the two buildings personally, and has had trouble finding tenants for the metal shop, Kolkema said. Development along Third Avenue has been sluggish.
"For many, many years my dad has tried to rent out his building," Kolkema said. "It just made sense to pursue this."
Kolkema points out that in 2016, Muskegon County had 4,322 registered medical marijuana patients and 680 caregivers. Some patients currently drive to Lansing to fill their prescriptions, he said.
Kolkema said he doesn't hold a medical marijuana card himself but doesn't see any stigma to marijuana as medicine. He acknowledged early on it was a classic NIMBY issue -- like adult video stores, or a fast food restaurant, nobody wants one in their backyard.
But even Kolkema was surprised at the turnout to a village's public hearing on his proposal. About 120 people -- roughly 10 percent of the village population, but Kolkema argues not all of them were village residents -- turned out to the meeting.
The vast majority of them were opposed to having a medical marijuana dispensary in the village. Kolkema called the meeting "Reefer Madness" likening it to the 1936 alarmist film.
"People are just kind of up in arms about this," he said.
The village council was listening. On June 27, while Kolkema fumed quietly from the audience, the council voted 6-1 to create a resolution against any medical marijuana in the village.
"Nobody wants it," Village Councilwoman Donna Pope said.
The village council is set to approve the new resolution at its Tuesday, June 25 meeting.
Fruitport votes against medical marijuana facilities
Strong stance in Muskegon
Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson has actively campaigned across the state against the recreational use of marijuana.
At one such townhall-type presentation in Detroit to a group of doctors, he was accompanied by a representative from the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.
"We're not actively running around looking for this stuff," Hilson said, adding that marijuana enforcement takes a back seat to addressing the epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse. Marijuana cases that involve the youth or traffic accidents get more of his attention than simple possession charges, he said.
Of course, that could change too. The week Hilson gave the interview, a group called Michigan Legalize collected signatures outside the courthouse where he works, hoping to put recreational use of marijuana on a statewide ballot in 2018.
Hilson's strong stance against recreational marijuana is underlined by enforcement of medical marijuana rules, helping shut down several unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries in downtown Muskegon in recent years. He also recently played a role in advising the village of Fruitport with a written letter summarizing the law.
Hilson maintains that medical marijuana users who carefully follow the rules are not the problem.
"It's the folks that instead of growing 72 plants, were growing 200" that face prosecution," he said. "We've had that."
Lakeshore marijuana cases
Marijuana may be legal for those with medical marijuana cards in Michigan, but it still accounts for a sizable amount of illicit drug traffic on the West Michigan shoreline.
Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Andy Fias is the section commander of WEMET, the law-enforcement group that enforces drug laws in the three lakeshore counties of Muskegon, Ottawa and Allegan.
In recent years, prosecutors in all three counties have been very supportive of the team's efforts to stop unlicensed dispensaries and illegal traffic of marijuana for recreational use.
During the 2016 calendar year, WEMET seized 223 pounds of marijuana flowers and buds, 1,304 marijuana plants and 35 pounds of marijuana hash oil, Fias said.
Some of those seizures came from closing down unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries.
"We've done a real good job of closing them down in Muskegon County," Fias said. "They still are very much illegal. We get our tips on them and shut them down."
Other communities in the state of Michigan are more lax, Fias said. For instance, unlicensed dispensaries operate within the city of Lansing.
Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 allowed medical marijuana care givers to assist five other patients with medical marijuana cards, and grow 12 marijuana plants per patient -- or a total 72 plants.
Fias said WEMET has been very fair to medical marijuana caregivers -- educating them about what they need to do to stay compliant, and not seizing all their plants for minor compliance errors.
Most caregivers try to stay compliant, he said. One of the requirements is protecting your marijuana plants from outsiders, and some growers meet that requirement by fencing in their plants on all sides, and even covering them with chain links.
Fias said that in Ottawa and Muskegon counties, the medical marijuana act has decreased the number of illegal marijuana grows in the countryside. Each year, law enforcement search by aircraft under the Domestic Cannabis Eradication program.
Michigan has taken the first steps toward building the legal framework for medical marijuana dispensaries, with Gov. Rick Snyder recently announcing members of a committee that would policy governing medical marijuana dispensaries.
But Fias said it's not clear which state or local agency would handle regulation of dispensaries in the future.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Village's medical-marijuana action highlights controversial issue | MLive.com
Author: Stephen Kloosterman
Contact: MLive contacts, services and support | MLive Contacts - MLive.com
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Michigan Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - MLive.com
