Detroit officials want rules for medical pot shops

Inside a neat brick building on Detroit's east side, a steady stream of customers stroll in to view, sniff and purchase something that not long ago would've landed them in jail — medical marijuana.

This is a dispensary, where concentrated marijuana sits in rows of shiny jars or is dissolved in tubes of vegetable oil for cooking, and where walls of bulletproof metal protect the inventory.

"There's a lot of people relying on us for getting their medicine, so we are, honestly, petrified" about inviting police scrutiny, said owner Adam MacDonald, 40, of Grosse Pointe Farms, in explaining why he requested that the Free Press not name his store.

Still, as chairman of the National Patients Rights Association — a group of mostly Michigan dispensary owners, their lobbyists and lawyers — MacDonald said he's given state lawmakers tours of his store on Mack Avenue, across from stately homes in Grosse Pointe Park.

"We've reached out to many people who were against this and turned them around," he said.

One state official who hasn't turned around is Attorney General Bill Schuette. In 2013, Schuette declared dispensaries to be illegal. Police raids soon triggered closures of an estimated 200 shops. Yet, hundreds of others stayed open in tolerant counties and communities, including scores of them in Detroit.

Now, Detroit could become a leader in the push to make dispensaries legal in Michigan. Earlier this month, Councilman James Tate called for the city to lobby Lansing for a bill to legalize dispensaries, estimated to be from 50 to 180 in Detroit alone. Many of his fellow council members have signed on.

And Gov. Rick Snyder might be ready to add his support. Snyder, a Republican, has been silent for years on marijuana, but spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said Wednesday that the governor's office was working with lawmakers on legislation "to help create a clear, better regulatory structure and give local governments more ability to manage medical marijuana dispensaries."

Until such a bill passes, however, Tate said Detroit should draw up its own rules, to eliminate "bad actors" while encouraging ethical shops selling medicinal cannabis.

ID cards needed

Many dispensary customers are in their 40s and 50s, but others range from parents buying for sick children to clients in their 90s, MacDonald said. Only those with state-issued ID cards — showing they have a doctor's approval — can make purchases that average about $70 per visit, he said.

One regular buyer is Santo Hollon, 44, of St. Clair Shores, who said he used medical marijuana in place of powerful prescription drugs that he once took to control his diverticulosis, a serious and sometimes disabling intestinal disease.

Unlike buying from back-alley drug dealers, "I know it's safe to come here and I know that the marijuana is safe," Hollon said.

Tate is more concerned about how the dispensaries co-exist with residents.

An early draft of proposed city regulations would require dispensaries to obtain a city-issued business license. Other recommendations included a restriction that dispensaries could not be less than 1,000 feet from each other, nor within 2,000 feet of a school, library, museum, child care center or city recreation center.

Tate said the city needs to ensure that its many dispensaries aren't selling marijuana to children, aren't violating building codes and aren't upsetting nearby residents' quality of life.

Referring to the lock-'em-up stance taken against dispensaries outside of Detroit, Tate said: "I just don't think that the approach of Oakland County is appropriate here."

A matter of priorities

The contrast from one side of 8 Mile to the other echoes the opposing views of marijuana playing out nationwide, with some states still rooted in the war on drugs, while Colorado and Washington have fully legalized marijuana. Other states like Michigan fall in the middle.

"What you're seeing is that a number of counties are not making it a priority to close their dispensaries down — Wayne County is one," said state Rep. Michael Callton, a Republican from southwest Michigan. In addition to Detroit, dispensary-friendly towns include Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Lansing and Traverse City, as well as many rural counties, Callton said.

A chiropractor, Callton said he became convinced by his own patients that marijuana was effective for health. The bill he sponsored, which would allow dispensaries in any community that wanted them, passed the state House overwhelmingly last year. But it died last month in the Senate's lame-duck session.

"I got ambushed by the Michigan Sheriff's Association. They had all their sheriffs call their senators and tell them how negative this would be," Callton said. He said he planned to re-introduce the bill this week.

The MSA will be ready.

"There's a misconception that we're opposed to anything involving medical marijuana," said Terrence Jungel, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff's Association. But law enforcement should be empowered "to see that bad players don't get into the market, and that good players have rules to follow," Jungel said.

The Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police has strong objections to allowing dispensaries because abusive practices make some owners no better than drug dealers, said Executive Director Bob Stevenson, the former police chief in Livonia.

Tate reiterated at a recent council meeting the need for regulations.

"What we need to do is look at how we ensure that it doesn't go completely off the tracks and go in the wrong direction," Tate said. "The question is, when you look at what's going on around the country, is this the direction the country is going in? Maybe."

According to a Washington, D.C., lobbying group that favors full legalization, it is.

Michigan is in a shrinking minority of states for refusing to allow dispensaries, said Karen O'Keefe, a Grosse Pointe Farms native who is director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.

Only three of the nation's 23 medical-marijuana states — Hawaii, Montana and Michigan — fail to allow some form of dispensaries or stores for adult users, O'Keefe said.

Neighborhood concerns

Some of the opposition to the proliferation of dispensaries is from residents who see them as a potential threat to the quality of life in some neighborhoods.

"Do we want the kind of business that invites holdups and robbery and gunplay?" said Pam Weinstein, of the Rosedale Park Improvement Association, which represents a stable area on the west side that Tate represents. "They're like fortresses, which makes you feel uneasy."

Weinstein said she supported the ballot initiative to legalize medicinal marijuana that Michigan voters approved in 2008, but she is uneasy with the growing number of dispensaries and the lack of regulations controlling them.

"None of us envisioned storefronts selling products," she said. "Instead of being in a medical context, it seems like it's turned into a commercial enterprise. I'm not happy about that and many people in my community are not happy about that."

Some residents want to see rules in place that say where the dispensaries can be opened and by whom.

"My concern is that it's unregulated. Anybody can get a license," said James Ward, 76, who lives in the Green Acres neighborhood that's bordered by 8 Mile, west of Woodward. "It's an opportunity to make money."

Tate said he has toured several dispensaries and has seen operators who have poured money into their shops to provide patients with a comfortable environment. Others are more profit-driven, he said.

"We've gone to some places that look almost resort-like," Tate said. "One had a waterfall. It was amazing."

A cluster of three Detroit dispensaries near the intersection of Van Dyke Avenue and East Eight Mile Road — at the Detroit-Warren border — provides a glimpse into how the dispensaries operate.

At Pure Michigan Wellness, a receptionist greets customers who sit in a waiting area — painted green — where coffee and water is available and a TV streams music.

Across the street, Starbuds had a much blander atmosphere inside. The store's sign outside looked like it was designed to play off the green and white Starbucks logo. And less than a mile away on Van Dyke is the dispensary Family Trees. It advertises its delivery service and that it welcomes felons as patients.

A common theme among these stores is a heavy security presence. Guards, sometimes armed, often are posted at a dispensary's entrance. Those working at the stores referred questions to the stores' owners.

Until any possible local regulations are approved, Tate said the city can enforce existing laws regarding signage and building permits.

"We've got to treat this like it's a real business, because that's what it is at this point," Tate said.

Contact Bill Laitner: 313-223-4485 or blaitner@freepress.com