Connect with us

Business

Moving Forward

Published

on

Little by little, East Lansing’s medical cannabis community has been slowly making progress, and the city council recently voted to allow at least four types of medical cannabis businesses in city limits. East Lansing, along with Lansing and Windsor Township, have all recently chosen to opt in and take advantage of Michigan’s recently redesigned medical cannabis program.

In May of 2015, East Lansing voters approved a proposal to limit enforcement on cannabis-related crimes. Then in October of 2016, the East Lansing City Council formally decriminalized possession of cannabis, reducing charges to a civil infraction.

“There have been a lot of studies coming out that say the crime is usually not associated with an increase when medical marijuana is present.”

Recently, on Oct. 17, 2017, the state Medical Marijuana Licensing Board held a meeting in East Lansing to gather input on how to set up the rules under the Medical Marijuana Facility Licensing Act. On Dec. 5, 2017, the East Lansing City Council voted 4-1 in favor of the revised Ordinance No. 1395, which will allow for cultivators, processing, safety compliance and secure transfer facilities to open for business within city limits.

Legislation outlining rules on medical cannabis collectives, referred to as provisioning centers, were not addressed at the December 5 meeting. “[Michigan’s] Public Act 281 authorized licensing for five types of facilities,” Planning and Zoning Administrator David Haywood said. “We’re dealing with four tonight—growers, processors, safety compliance and secure transport facilities. . . This ordinance does not cover provisioning centers. That’s in Ordinance 1416.”

The community’s response has been varied, and anti-cannabis petitions requesting that the city council deny Ordinances 1395 and 1416, which were signed and then filed on Dec. 8, 2017.

Only Council member Ruth Beier voted against the ordinance, calling it rushed, although she added that she supports medical cannabis in general. Public concerns were addressed, including odor regulations and consequences for not controlling odors that emanate beyond the confines of cultivation structures.

Council member Aaron Stephens was supportive of allowing multiple types of businesses. He pointed out how misinformation stymies progress in the city. “There have been a lot of studies coming out that say the crime is usually not associated with an increase when medical marijuana is present,” Stephens said. “There have been also several studies that say drunk driving goes down. I don’t believe this to be an issue after having conversations with members of our East Lansing Police Department.”

The revisions add a considerable amount of definitions and clarification to the ordinance. The bill calls for 1,000-foot buffers around schools and daycares, which is represented by the color blue in the city’s interactive map. According to East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows, the city is in need of $3 to $4 million to restore its economy and climb out of debt. Medical cannabis is one of the ways the city is attempting to abate its current financial situation.

The area is also embracing medical cannabis research. East Lansing is home to Michigan State University, where coincidentally, a groundbreaking study on cannabis and HIV recently took place. Researchers, led by Norbert E. Kaminski PhD and Mike Rizzo, found that THC could potentially slow the process of mental decline in people living with HIV. The study was published in the November issue of the journal AIDS, and it attracted national attention.

Despite some opposition, it’s an exciting and pivotal time for medical cannabis in East Lansing, with legislation and research moving forward.

 

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *