Christine Green
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Cop, inspectors visit stores in crackdown
Detroit's crackdown on marijuana storefront shops could lead to about 150 fewer shops than existed in the city at the height of the industry, Mayor Mike Duggan said.
Teams of city inspectors and police officers have begun visiting stores to enforce Detroit's new medical marijuana ordinances, which took effect March 1.
"There is room in this town for probably 50 or 60 medical marijuana dispensaries spaced legitimately, and they have to be in industrial or high commercial areas," Duggan said in an interview. "They can't be in residential areas."
The new laws require store operators to obtain a business license designed for the medical marijuana stores. Shops are prohibited from operating within 1,000 feet of a church, school, park, liquor store other marijuana shops and other places considered a drug-free zone under city law, such as libraries and child-care centers. Store operators will be able to apply to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a variance to operate within those boundaries.
In the city's first phase of enforcement, officials are targeting facilities in drug-free zones that did not apply to operate at a legitimate site. Inspection teams are working with the law department, and the city is filing nuisance-abatement suits in Wayne County Circuit Court to shut them down.
So far, 22 facilities have closed, leaving 188 in operation within city limits.
"We're not being heavy-handed," Duggan said. "If you've applied for a site that is a legitimate site under the ordinance, and you're in another location, we'll give you time to move the operation to the legitimate site. If you're in an illegal site next to a church, and you haven't applied for a legitimate site, we're moving on you first."
The Rev. Ray Anderson, who runs and preaches at a church and community center in northwest Detroit called House of Help, said the city could be moving faster.
"It's not working. To me, there's even more dispensaries," Anderson said. "I don't know if they're not enforcing or don't have enough law enforcement or what."
Anderson, whose church occupies a former elementary school on Clarita Street, said he hasn't noticed any dispensaries that have closed in his community, including one near his church.
Detroit has received 250 applications to open medical marijuana centers under the new ordinance, officials said. Of those, 58 were incomplete. About 112 applications are believed to be for operations in ineligible drug-free zones.
Matthew Abel of the Cannabis Counsel law firm in Detroit said he has attended some hearings where the city's Buildings Safety, Environmental and Engineering Department weighed medical marijuana applications. Abel said he hasn't yet seen anything too problematic about the way the city's process is working out.
"I think it's too early to tell. The City of Detroit is not a nimble bureaucracy," Abel said. "This is uncharted territory."
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: New laws may close 15 Detroit pot shops
Author: Joe Guillen
Contact: 313-222-6678
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Detroit Free Press - Home
Detroit's crackdown on marijuana storefront shops could lead to about 150 fewer shops than existed in the city at the height of the industry, Mayor Mike Duggan said.
Teams of city inspectors and police officers have begun visiting stores to enforce Detroit's new medical marijuana ordinances, which took effect March 1.
"There is room in this town for probably 50 or 60 medical marijuana dispensaries spaced legitimately, and they have to be in industrial or high commercial areas," Duggan said in an interview. "They can't be in residential areas."
The new laws require store operators to obtain a business license designed for the medical marijuana stores. Shops are prohibited from operating within 1,000 feet of a church, school, park, liquor store other marijuana shops and other places considered a drug-free zone under city law, such as libraries and child-care centers. Store operators will be able to apply to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a variance to operate within those boundaries.
In the city's first phase of enforcement, officials are targeting facilities in drug-free zones that did not apply to operate at a legitimate site. Inspection teams are working with the law department, and the city is filing nuisance-abatement suits in Wayne County Circuit Court to shut them down.
So far, 22 facilities have closed, leaving 188 in operation within city limits.
"We're not being heavy-handed," Duggan said. "If you've applied for a site that is a legitimate site under the ordinance, and you're in another location, we'll give you time to move the operation to the legitimate site. If you're in an illegal site next to a church, and you haven't applied for a legitimate site, we're moving on you first."
The Rev. Ray Anderson, who runs and preaches at a church and community center in northwest Detroit called House of Help, said the city could be moving faster.
"It's not working. To me, there's even more dispensaries," Anderson said. "I don't know if they're not enforcing or don't have enough law enforcement or what."
Anderson, whose church occupies a former elementary school on Clarita Street, said he hasn't noticed any dispensaries that have closed in his community, including one near his church.
Detroit has received 250 applications to open medical marijuana centers under the new ordinance, officials said. Of those, 58 were incomplete. About 112 applications are believed to be for operations in ineligible drug-free zones.
Matthew Abel of the Cannabis Counsel law firm in Detroit said he has attended some hearings where the city's Buildings Safety, Environmental and Engineering Department weighed medical marijuana applications. Abel said he hasn't yet seen anything too problematic about the way the city's process is working out.
"I think it's too early to tell. The City of Detroit is not a nimble bureaucracy," Abel said. "This is uncharted territory."
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: New laws may close 15 Detroit pot shops
Author: Joe Guillen
Contact: 313-222-6678
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Detroit Free Press - Home
