The Effectiveness of Regulating Marijuana Dispensaries

I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Ann Arbor residents need to pay more attention to what’s going on at City Council meetings. One good example is the recently instituted couch ban. Another is a vote this evening on additional regulations to Ann Arbor marijuana dispensaries. The Wall Street Journal described the potential regulations well:

On Monday, the Ann Arbor City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing and may vote on permanent zoning rules on medical-marijuana shops that generally limit where the dispensaries can be located, ban drive-through operations, require those under age 18 to be accompanied by a parent and prohibit consumption of marijuana inside a dispensary.

According to the specific amendments under consideration, dispensaries could also be located only in an area where retail is permitted, no person could sublease a property to be used as a dispensary, and dispensaries would be required to have a medical marijuana business license. Here’s the raw text of the proposed amendments:

The City Planning Commission, at its meeting of October 5, 2010, made the following amendments to the October 1, 2010 draft ordinance:

1.      Added language to Paragraph (3)(a) regarding locations of medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities.  The following underlined text has been inserted into the October 7 draft: “Medical marijuana dispensaries shall only be located in a district classified pursuant to this chapter as D, C or M, or in PUD districts where retail is permitted in the supplemental regulations.

2.      Eliminated Paragraph (4)(d) regarding medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facility regulations.  The following language has been removed from the October 7 draft: “No person shall lease or sub-lease any property for the purpose of using said property for a medical marijuana dispensary or cultivation facility without the prior express written permission of the owner of the property for such use.”

3.      Restored a requirement for medical marijuana home occupation regulations, which had been removed from the October 1 draft.  The following has been re-inserted as Paragraph (5)(i) in the October 7 draft: “No transfer of medical marijuana to patients other than those residing on the parcel shall occur on the parcel.”

The City Planning Commission recommended approval of the draft ordinance, as amended.  The attached October 7, 2010 draft ordinance incorporates these amendments.

Further, the City Planning Commission recommended that the Mayor and City Council institute a medical marijuana business license to address issues important to the health, safety, and welfare of residents but outside of the scope of the zoning ordinance, such as security, building safety and other code compliance.

A few things on this. First off, I knew (and was reminded by the Journal article) that marijuana regulation in Ann Arbor was rather relaxed, but dispensaries don’t need a license to operate? What? Second, as the Journal also notes, Ann Arbor is famous for its lenient marijuana enforcement. Because of this I’m skeptical of how effective these amendments will be at cracking down on the marijuana culture around here. For one thing, since medicinal marijuana is legal in Ann Arbor, it’s already tricky business. Add to that the fact that Hash Bash is an annual event, and it’s hard to imagine even the complete disappearance (which is not under consideration) of dispensaries reducing the relaxed marijauna culture around here in any noticeable sense.

(Image by r0bz used under a Creative Commons license.)