Appeals court: Michigan cities, townships can't ban growing, use of medical marijuana

LANSING – Michigan cities and townships cannot bar the cultivation and use of medical marijuana, a state appellate court has decided in a case involving an ordinance adopted by the city of Wyoming and challenged by a patient there.

In an opinion released this morning, a unanimous three-judge panel of the court said the local ordinance was clearly pre-empted by the medical marijuana state law, and that local governments could not use the federal prohibition on marijuana as an excuse to ban it.
The appeals ruling is a significant victory for advocates of medical marijuana, who claim that cities and townships have been attempting to thwart the law, approved by state voters in 2008. Similar legal challenges have been brought against other communities, including Livonia, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, which enacted similar ordinances.
• PDF: Read the appellate court decision on medical marijuana
“The entire medical marijuana community is elated by this decision,” said Tim Beck, one of the leaders in the successful ballot proposal, “It confirms our belief that states have a right to regulate their own affairs.”
The appeals court said Michigan and federal law did not conflict because the voter-approved statute expressly acknowledged the federal marijuana prohibition while providing an exemption for its cultivation and use under state law.
“Congress can criminalize all uses of medical marijuana, (but) it cannot require the state to do the same,” the courts said.

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[h=1]Court of Appeals knocks down Wyoming marijuana ordinance[/h][h=5]Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2012, 10:55 AM Updated: Wednesday, August 01, 2012, 3:38 PM[/h]WYOMING, MI – Wyoming’s ordinance regulating the use of marijuana has been voided by the Michigan Court of Appeals in a decision released this morning.
In reversing the decision of Kent County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Leiber, the court agreed with attorney John Ter Beek that the city’s ordinance regulating marijuana goes against the will of state voters who approved medical marijuana at the polls in 2008.
The initiative was passed by 63 percent of voters state-wide and by 59 percent of voters in the city of Wyoming.

Last year, City Council members said they plan to keep marijuana growers out of Wyoming and would take the case to the State Supreme Court, if necessary.
Council members initiated the ban, saying marijuana can be distributed safely by pharmacists, not by licensed marijuana caregivers as Michigan law allows.
TerBeek, who is a registered medical marijuana license holder, said the ordinance regulates where the marijuana can be sold and, as it turns out, there is nowhere in the city that qualifies.
TerBeek filed the lawsuit against the city where Leiber ruled in favor of the city.
TerBeek said Leiber acted less like a judge and more like a prosecutor enforcing the city’s ordinance.
“They have tried to cloak a marijuana ban in a city ordinance,” TerBeek said today.
The three-judge appeals court panel ruled unanimously that the city ordinance conflicts with the state’s Medical Marijuana Act. It rejected the city’s argument that the state law contradicts a federal ban on marijuana, which is listed as a class one controlled substance.
“The (federal drug law) provisions do not preempt the MMMA’s grant of immunity as found (the Medical Marijuana Act) because it is well established that Congress cannot require the states to enforce federal law,” the court wrote. “Thus, while Congress can criminalize all uses of medical marijuana, it cannot require the states to do the same. Accordingly, Michigan is not required to criminalize all uses of medical marijuana and the immunity afforded to the medical use of marijuana by (state law).”

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st0wandgrow said:

Effin eh!

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gladstoned said:

F & A
.......


How's 2nd string wife going? You make some hash and grab some headphones yet?

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shagalicious said:

(D) ALLOW UNANNOUNCED INSPECTION OF ITS PREMISES DURING
2 REASONABLE BUSINESS HOURS BY ANY STATE, FEDERAL, OR LOCAL
3 GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY AUTHORIZED TO INSPECT THE LICENSED FACILITY
4 UNDER THIS ARTICLE.

warrantless federal access

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