Marijuana Policy Project

As long as growing marijuana for medicinal use has become legal in Michigan, it's reasonable that cities should ensure that where a grower is providing it to several users, the process be treated as a business.

City officials in Royal Oak are out in front on the issue: The city's Planning Commission will hold a public hearing May 12 on a change to the city's zoning ordinance, one that would require suppliers to cultivate plants in a general business district.

The ordinance would exclude qualified patients who grow plants in their home. As approved by voters last year, residents certified with diseases such as cancer, AIDS, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis can grow up to a dozen plants at home. Those residents can possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana.

The law also permits "primary caregivers" to grow up to a dozen plants for up to five patients. That's the target of the proposed ordinance change.

The ordinance would also classify the marijuana-growing businesses as a special use, which we gather would require some extra steps for both applicant and city officials.

The extra steps may limit and even discourage primary caregivers from growing marijuana in the city. As Planning Commissioner Stacie Vorves pointed out, they might encounter unexpected expenses such as rent, supplies and lighting.

Growers might get around that by forming a consortium to lower costs and serve more patients, Vorves speculated.

It's likely that behind the desire to regulate where marijuana can be grown is the suspicion that at least some locally grown crops will end up in the hands of recreational smokers rather than patients using it to control pain.

That suspicion was behind much of the opposition to the initiative in last year's election — that and the suspicion that legalizing marijuana for medicinal use was the beginning of an effort to legalize it for recreational use as well.

As long as marijuana is grown for medicinal use and remains illegal for recreational use, we expect law enforcement agencies will attempt to keep up with the ultimate destinations of the legally grown crop.

That should be at least somewhat easier if the locations are restricted to commercial districts.

The proposed Royal Oak ordinance change may well be subjected to a legal challenge. If it withstands the challenge, it might indeed force primary caregivers to grow elsewhere.

That doesn't seem like a bad outcome for Royal Oak. In fact, other communities in Michigan should keep a close eye on how this plays out. After all, restricting the use of marijuana to the provision of the new law should be a statewide effort.