WEED
A worker for Viola, a Detroit medical marijuana provisioning center. Detroit’s new ordinance would put medical cannabis dispensaries out of business, lawsuit claims.
One-Hitters
Detroit struck with another lawsuit over ambitious recreational marijuana ordinance for social equity By Steve N eavling
A medical cannabis
company filed a lawsuit challenging etroit s ambitious new recreational marijuana ordinance on ednesday, delivering the latest blow to marijuana consumers in the state s largest city. ouse o an , which operates our medical marijuana dispensaries in etroit, ta es aim at a provision in the ordinance that prevents medical acilities rom getting a recreational license until . he company is as ing the ayne ounty ircuit ourt to stri e down the provision, saying it violates the state law governing recreational marijuana. he city is attempting to give certain pre erred newcomer applicants an artificial head start by preventing lainti s and other e isting medical marijuana provisioning enter licensees in the ity rom even applying or adult use retailer licenses until at least which clearly violates both the letter and spirit o the ichigan Regulation and a ation o arihuana Act, the lawsuit, filed by evin lair o the onigman law firm, states. he etroit ity ouncil approved the new ordinance on April with an
vote. he lawsuit comes nearly a year a ter a judge deemed the city s original recreational marijuana ordinance li ely unconstitutional because it gave pre erences longtime etroiters. he city scrapped the ordinance and gave it another go. nder the new ordinance, the city o ers two trac s or licenses so that e uity and non e uity applicants aren t competing with each other. he goal was to avoid another lawsuit by still o ering licenses to non etrotiers. ut the new ordinance goes too ar, the latest lawsuit argues, and would li ely result in numerous medical marijuana dispensaries going out o business. nder the worst case, and most li ely, scenario, the city will have awarded all o its allowable retailer licenses by , leaving plainti s unable to obtain even one such license, which will ensure the financial ruin o their businesses, as well as the termination o do ens o employees, many o whom are residents o the city, the lawsuit states. Now that recreational marijuana is
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legal, ewer people are getting medical cannabis cards because they cost money and ta e time to obtain. he number o active medical cards ell rom more than , in to ewer than , so ar this year, a . decline, according to the state s arijuana Regulatory Agency RA . edical cannabis sales ell even harder, rom . million in ebruary to million in ebruary ,a drop. hat has spelled serious trouble or the medical cannabis dispensaries in etroit that have hung on and waited or the city to allow recreational sales. On April , the city began accepting applications or recreational marijuana businesses. he city declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying o cials have not yet had time to review it.
No weed at Arts, Beats & Eats this year, Royal Oak votes
oo s li e we won t be getting to smo e weed at Arts, eats Eats in Royal Oa this year a ter all. ity o ficials rejected a proposal to add a consumption lounge to this year s abor ay wee end estivities during a recent meeting. he pot smo ing tent would have allowed or both the sale and consumption o marijuana, with a capacity o around people. It would have also included several industrial ans to disperse the smo e. he annual amily riendly event typically draws around , people, and concerns were voiced about public sa ety and children being e posed to
SHUTTERSTOCK
secondhand smo e. Now in its th year, it s one o metro etroit s largest outdoor summer estivals. hese concerns were mostly voiced by olice hie ichael oore, who cited other events in ichigan that have allowed pot were much smaller with between and , people in attendance. e said he spo e with law en orcement agencies that have wor ed the a orementioned events and they echoed his sentiments. Out o the law en orcement o cials that I personally spo e with, most i not all o them e pressed concern with what is be ore you tonight, oore told the commissioners. oore also said that those events with marijuana licenses typically don t have alcohol available or sale while Arts, eats Eats does. ast year the dispensary ouse o an became the estival s first cannabis sponsor, though no actual weed was or sale at the event. he proposal ailed at a narrow margin with a vote, but the issue may be considered again in the uture. Residents were also divided, with some e pressing e citement at the idea and others being concerned or their children. At the meeting, Royal Oa ity ommissioner yle u uc said, maybe ne t year. everal o cials, li e u uc, want to wait and see how other large events o this scale approached allowing marijuana, and then maybe Arts, eats Eats can ollow suit. I don t thin we need to be the trailbla er on this, u uc said. —Randiah Camille Green
