KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Kalamazoo residents will have a chance this week to see and comment on how the city will regulate — and tax — medical marijuana.
Public forums on the matter are planned for Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon at City Hall.
In November of 2012, Kalamazoo voters overwhelming approved an amendment to the city charter allowing medical marijuana dispensaries. Two months later, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled them illegal. Then last fall, the governor signed a bill making them legal again and now the city has to figure out how it will regulate them.
“I don’t think a week has gone by without someone calling my office (saying), ‘What’s the city of Kalamazoo going to do?’” Clyde Robinson, the city attorney for Kalamazoo, told 24 Hour News 8 Tuesday.
City staff is proposing an ordinance that complies with state law and what the voters wanted.
“We’re going to certainly give service to that charter amendment because there were some good ideas in there in terms of hours of operation, separation distances and the like,” Robinson said.
The proposal calls for a total of seven dispensaries, referred to as “provision centers.” Three would be run by people who are either patients or care providers, as called for by the voters, and four would be up for grabs to anyone who can meet the requirements.
Full story: WOOD TV