Film

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.

SHUTTERSTOCK

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 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 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