By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle
Chronicle News Service file photo A bud, from a medical marijuana plant legally grown in West Michigan basement, is the most potent part of the plant.
MUSKEGON — Few believe that the Muskegon City Commission's final votes later this month on medical marijuana zoning and regulations will be the last time commissioners address the issue.
Commissioners voted 6-1 this week to approve a zone change to put medical marijuana businesses in heavy industrial zones and to regulate the businesses through licensing the locations.
The lack of a unanimous vote means the zoning and business regulation ordinance changes will be subject to a second and final vote at the commission's March 22 meeting.
The final votes are not expected to change the commission's position on medical marijuana. The majority of commissioners say they are abiding by the wishes of state, county and city voters who approved medical marijuana in a 2008 statewide ballot issue, but the zoning and regulations are designed to protect the interests of everyone in the community.
Only Commissioner Clara Shepherd voted against the medical marijuana ordinances.
“With all of the problems we have had in Ward 2, I want to vote no,” Shepherd said of her inner-city commission district. “Medical marijuana is not acceptable to me.”
Medical marijuana is a new and perplexing issue for city staff and commissioners, along with state-certified patients and caregivers. Voter-approved state law on medical marijuana gives little direction to local communities on how to implement it and has opened the issue to multiple ongoing lawsuits, City Attorney John Schrier said.
“This has been a learning process,” Mayor Steve Warmington said of the medical marijuana ordinances. “And, I think this is a good beginning. It safeguards the community, but is in the spirit of what the voters approved. We will continue to look at what needs to be changed.”
The city zoning and regulation ordinances limit medical marijuana businesses to heavy industrial zones such as the city's Port City Industrial and Medendorp Industrial parks on either side of U.S. 31 on the far east end of the city. The regulations are of the businesses; The city does not address personal use of marijuana and growing of marijuana plants by individuals in their residences when approved by the Michigan Department of Community Health.
Schrier said the city's proposed ordinance changes seek to keep the medical marijuana issue confidentially between patients and caregivers but is designed to prohibit a concentration of businesses in a single building. Under state law, a certified caregiver can provide marijuana to five certified patients.
Many communities have not addressed the issue or have simply stated in their ordinances that any businesses not allowed by federal law are banned, Schrier said. Medical marijuana is against federal law but U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have said they will not prohibit the Michigan medical marijuana activity, Schrier said.
Local medical marijuana proponents applauded the Muskegon City Commission for its position on the issue. However, some objected to limiting businesses to industrial zones and others questioned the restrictions of the business licensing procedures.
“We want to see this regulated just like everybody else,” said Derek Antol of 1504 Montgomery. “Our main focus is safe access. The last thing we need is for this to get out of hand.”
Antol is executive director of the Greater Michigan Compassion Club, 2116 E. Apple, a medical marijuana operation that is not in the city's industrial zone. Objecting to limiting such businesses to the industrial zone, Antol was at this week's city commission meetings with an attorney.
Several medical marijuana patients told commissioners of how marijuana has relieved pain, diminished symptoms and allowed them to live as normal lives as possible with their various diseases. One called marijuana a “gift from God.”
“This is a civil rights law,” said Dianne Foster, who said she has a medical marijuana business on Ottawa Street, which is not in an industrial zone. “I am pleased with what I am seeing from the city.”
Medical marijuana as approved by state voters is not a law enforcement issue, according to Muskegon Public Safety Director Tony Kleibecker. The law specifically prohibits law enforcement from knowing who are medical marijuana patients and caregivers and their locations, Schrier said.
“We don't feel we are in a precarious position,” Kleibecker said of medical marijuana and law enforcement. “I don't think we are on thin ice. It should be a regulatory and zoning issue.”
Warmington compared medical marijuana with casino development — two issues that not everyone on the city commission agrees with but should support, he said, because voters approved those issues. He thanked local medical marijuana supporters for their patience as city staff took more than six months to craft the ordinance changes.
“To the patients, we are glad you are able to get relief legally,” Warmington said.
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