Poll: Michigan voters would back medical marijuana law again
A recent poll showed that Michigan voters would again approve the state's medical marijuana law.
The poll, conducted by Marketing Resource Group, Inc., showed that 59 percent of voters would approve the law, while 35 percent would not. Two percent leaned toward approving, while 2-percent leaned against.
The poll results were announced by Marijuana Policy Project, which helped draft the law. In November 2008, 63-percent of voters approved medical use of marijuana.
Flint, Michigan stops medical marijuana dispensaries for now
Flint is taking action on medical marijuana businesses.
The City Council passed a moratorium on dispensaries Monday night.
The moratorium temporarily bans any new dispensary from opening its doors in the city. It does not mean current dispensaries cannot do business.
This is a move many cities and townships have made over the past few months, as officials try to figure out how to regulate the Michigan Medical Marijuana act passed by voters.
Last night's council vote on the 180-day moratorium was unanimous. This gives the city time to establish a zoning ordinance for dispensaries.
DETROIT: Michigan cities try to block medicinal marijuana sales
Medical marijuana is legal in Michigan, but communities across the state are putting up barriers to block entrepreneurs from setting up shop in what critics say is a clear attempt to subvert the law.
Cities are taking vastly different approaches to regulating how medical pot is dispensed -- from bans in Livonia to months-long moratoriums on marijuana businesses in Grand Rapids and Saginaw, to an environment of open mindedness in Hazel Park, where city leaders see pot dispensaries as a potential revenue source.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says it is keeping an eye on the dizzying array of laws popping up across the state as local leaders from big cities to rural enclaves try to interpret Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act, which passed in 2008 by 63 percent and establishes the right of certified patients and caregivers to possess pot. Patients can legally use it.
Preparing for cannabis, a growth industry in Michigan
Owner Nick Tennant, 24, inspects the growing plants at Med Grow Cannabis College in Southfield. The school opened in September. Credit: The Detroit News
The business of medical marijuana is rapidly evolving in Michigan, with Royal Oak preparing to pass the state's first zoning law to cluster professional growers and the opening in Southfield of a trade school teaching plant cultivation.
On Tuesday, Royal Oak city leaders are expected to debate a proposed zoning ordinance requiring all licensed medical marijuana caregivers to grow pot in a dispensary in the city's general business district, which encompasses the retail and commercial strip along Woodward Avenue.
Officials say the proposed law would not prohibit caregivers from visiting the homes of patients to assist them with marijuana use or possessing the patient's pot at the patient's home. It would not apply to qualified patients who are physician-certified to grow the drug.
Detroit’s first ‘Cannabis College’ commences classes
The newly opened Med Grow Cannabis College in Detroit is the first of its kind in Michigan following the state's legalisation of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The suburban college will offer courses in how to grow, use and profit from medical marijuana.
Med Grow's founder, 24-year-old Nick Tennant, said: "This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars."
