NEWS: Detroit to Emerge as the Leader Making Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Legal in Michigan

Last week, the City Council member James Tate said to the Detroit Free Press, that he want the city to lobby Lansing for a bill to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries. And wanted to lobby an estimated 50 to 180 dispensaries in Detroit itself. Tate shares his views on Detroit Free Press, where he said that the city should draw their rules to eliminate unauthorized access in turn encourage ethical shops.

In the news (http://on.freep.com/1BaJA9X ) he explicitly stated that he wants Detroit to give the right push to make medical marijuana dispensaries legal in Michigan. 

In the earlier draft of proposed city regulation, made compulsory for marijuana dispensaries to obtain city-issued business license. Apart from that, other recommendation included a restriction that dispensaries should not be less than 1000 feet of each other. It should also be less than 2000 feet of a school, museum, childcare center, and library or recreation hubs in the city.

Tate adds, the city needs to ensure that these dispensaries abstain from selling Marijuana to children, violate the policy, or disrupt the normal lifeline of the neighborhood. (Since sometimes opposition come from residents of the same locality, who feels marijuana dispensaries as potential threats.)

Reaction of a resident Pam Weinstein from Rosedale Park Improvement Association, an area on Detroit's west side - "Do we want the kind of business that invites holdups and robbery and gunplay?" "They are like fortresses, which makes you feel uneasy."

In reaction to such uneasiness in the city, Gov. Rick Snyder's spokesperson Sara Wurfel said last week-

Governor’s Office is working on regulation & policy to help local governments acquire more power to manage medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan.

In year 2008, Michigan voters approved marijuana use for some chronic medical treatments, and in year 2013 Michigan Supreme Court considered dispensaries illegal. As many clinics have shut down to operate.

Adam MacDonald of Grosse Pointe Farms is the chairperson of National Patients Rights Association (a group of mostly Michigan dispensary owners, lobbyists and lawyers) said that, they are successful in melting the heart of many. They made people convince that marijuana clinics are safe and not a threat to society.

In the last year, Republican Rep. Mike Callton introduced a bill in the state legislature to legalize dispensaries and businesses to sell Medical Marijuana to registered Patients and Caregivers in Michigan. However, last month in the Senate, the bill died out but Callton plans to re-introduce during the new session.