Voters will have an Opportunity to Change Detroit’s Current Cannabis Regulations

September 19,2017 Detroit

In coming November, Detroit voters can give their verdict on the region’s marijuana industry when recently proposed regulations and amendments will appear on the local ballot. Highlights of these amendments are to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open near liquor establishments and expand the farming of marijuana in Detroit’s industrial areas.

According to a news report, the amendments will include the following points:

Detroit Cannabis – Image powered by Floridacannabiscoalition.com

• Opt Detroit into the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act and establish standards to regulate caregiver centers through the city’s Building, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department regarding issuance, renewal and revocation. It also removes the jurisdiction of Detroit’s Board of Zoning Appeal.
• Amend the definition of a Drug-Free School Zone to correspond to federal and state laws that require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from schools, colleges and public libraries.
• Would allow dispensaries to open within 500 feet of another dispensary. They would also be allowed to open within 500 feet of exempt religious institutions where religious services are conducted regularly. The current ordinance requires facilities to be more than 1,000 feet from churches and other dispensaries.
• Would allow dispensaries to open near liquor, beer/wine stores, child care centers, arcades and parks. The current ordinance does not allow them to be open near any of them.
• Would allow dispensaries to stay open until 9 p.m. Currently, they’re required to close by 8 p.m.

Aspiring dispensary operators can’t find suitable locations due to existing zoning restrictions in Detroit. One of the amendments will address this issue by allowing growers and “secure transporters” to conduct their operations in M1-5 industrial districts of the city.

Marijuana – Image powered by Investopedia.com

M1 or limited industrial districts are located along major and minor boulevards with older and empty buildings. This area is supposed to act as buffer between business and residential districts.

Citizens for Sensible Cannabis, a cannabis advocacy group, which had distributed petitions to change the existing regulations, filed a lawsuit against the City of Detroit Election Commission and the Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey. This response from Citizens for Sensible Cannabis came after officials said a measure to change zoning regulations of the city would not be part of the amendments appearing on the November ballot.

The post Voters will have an Opportunity to Change Detroit’s Current Cannabis Regulations appeared first on I Love Growing Marijuana.