“One way or another, dispensaries are going to be short-lived,” predicts Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje.
In 2008, a hefty 63 percent of Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal legalizing medical marijuana. Just days later, it seemed, “dispensaries” selling marijuana opened across the state–including eight in Ann Arbor before city council slapped on a moratorium.
“Dispensaries were open before we knew anything,” says First Ward councilperson Sabra Briere. “We were playing catch-up all along.” But play they did, and after a year’s deliberations, the council passed a law allowing fifteen dispensaries to operate in prescribed areas.
“We took our time to get it right,” says Mayor Hieftje, “though it wouldn’t surprise me if we had to go back and tweak it.”
Hieftje says the reason it took so long is that “the state legislature dropped the ball completely on this one. Instead of one clear state law set by the legislature, every [municipality’s] laws are different. That’s why there’re so many lawsuits going on: the legislature did not provide the necessary legal framework.”
Longtime medical marijuana advocate Chuck Ream was often critical of the city during the year of refining, but says he’s happy with the result. “Council should be congratulated,” says Ream, partner in the MedMaRX dispensary on Packard. “They did a good job at balancing the interest of patients and the Ann Arbor community.”
But it may all come to nothing if, as Hieftje expects, either the judiciary or the legislature moves to shut down Michigan’s burgeoning marijuana sales business. As the mayor points out, the ballot issue the voters approved has “nothing in it about dispensaries one way or another.” Last winter, a court in Isabella County rejected the county prosecutor’s attempt to shut down a Mount Pleasant dispensary, but in June, the state court of appeals agreed to hear the case, and that conservative court is likely to rule that the law doesn’t permit dispensaries–a position likely to be upheld by the even more conservative state supreme court.
“If the courts change the law, we will abide by the law,” says Briere. “The dispensaries would have to close–all of them.”
Ream sees things differently. “Clearly, yes, the law does allow it, especially if the local city says it’s okay. The law was written very carefully not to say anything one way or another about dispensaries, because if they’d put anything in, it would have lowered the number of ‘Yes’ votes [on the proposal].” And even if the state rules against the businesses, Ream adds, “in Ann Arbor, the law specifically allows dispensaries to exist, so it could carve out a legal bubble. After all, here in Ann Arbor, we’ve been different since the $5 pot fine passed forty years ago.”
“It was certainly not the intention of anybody on city council to create an area of protection where we’re flouting state law,” says Briere. Besides, says city attorney Stephen Postema, “state law always trumps local law.”
“If it’s not decided by a court, the legislature, which is just as conservative as the supreme court, will take it up and strike it down,” Hieftje concludes. “One way or another, dispensaries are going to be short-lived.”
If the issue does go to the legislature, Ream hopes for their understanding. “The Republicans might pass a very restrictive bill, but they’re simply going to have to allow some dispensaries,” he insists. “Patients are not going to go out and find some old hippie to be their caregiver!”
