Medical marijuana sales could come to East Lansing after City Council OKs dispensary rules

EAST LANSING — Medical marijuana dispensaries are one step closer to setting up shop in East Lansing following the passage of an ordinance that determines where and how the businesses can operate.

The ordinance, approved last week in a 5-0 vote, does not set a hard cap on the number of dispensaries that can operate citywide, but it does use zoning restrictions to limit the proliferation of the businesses.

Those restrictions would make it possible for only four to five dispensaries, also called provisioning centers, to sell medical marijuana to patients in East Lansing, officials said.

No ban on products that could be smoked or vaped

City Council had attempted on Oct. 30 to pass an ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, but that ordinance failed in a 3-2 vote. That version of the legislation would have banned selling any form of medical marijuana that could be smoked or vaped, effectively limiting sales to edibles, oil-based tinctures and topical skin products.

In a gesture toward compromise, council members agreed this month to lift the ban on products that could be smoked or vaped. Council Members Aaron Stephens and Shanna Draheim, who helped vote down the ordinance last month, agreed to vote yes on Nov. 7 as a condition of lifting of that ban.

What types of medical businesses will be legal in East Lansing?

Although state law creates categories for four other types of medical marijuana facilities — growers, processors, safety-compliance facilities and transporters — medical marijuana dispensaries have generated the most controversy among local leaders.

East Lansing approved rules for medical marijuana facilities other than dispensaries in 2017, although none of those businesses have thus far applied to operate in the city.

Last week's vote will add dispensaries to the list of medical marijuana facilities that can apply for special land use permits to do business in the city.

The city will collect a nonrefundable $5,000 annual license fee from dispensaries. Council also required dispensaries to donate either $5,000 or 1% of their annual profits (whichever amount is greater) to charities based in East Lansing.

Among other restrictions, the recently-adopted ordinance prohibits dispensaries from operating within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare, liquor store or another dispensary. Additionally, council limited dispensaries to four specially-zoned areas called overlay districts. 

The overlay districts include:

• Land zoned for "B2" retail use south of Michigan Avenue and west of Brody Road
• Land bounded by Abbey and Coolidge roads, east of U.S. 127 and south of the city's Office Industrial Park district
• An area near Costco, bounded by Park Lake, Haslett and Merritt Roads
• The East Village area, including land south of Grand River Avenue between Cedar Street and Hagadorn Road

What happens now that recreational marijuana will be legal?

Council's vote to regulate medical dispensaries came on the heels of the decision by Michigan voters on Nov. 6 to legalize recreational marijuana.

People ages 21 and older will be able to possess, use and grow small amounts of marijuana beginning 10 days after the Board of Canvassers certifies the midterm election results. That means legal weed could take effect sometime in early December.

It will take more time, however, before larger-scale businesses will be licensed to grow, test, process, transport and sell marijuana for recreational use in Michigan. Moreover, as is the case with medical marijuana, local governments will have the authority to ban or limit recreational marijuana businesses within their communities.

All five people who currently sit on East Lansing City Council say they eventually plan to allow recreational marijuana businesses within their city, though its unclear what the council's timeline would be for setting local rules for those establishments. Council members have suggested East Lansing's medical marijuana regulations could serve as a framework for recreational cannabis businesses.

More:

Will dispensaries ever come to East Lansing? Council deadlocks on medical marijuana rules

Are recreational pot shops coming to your town? Here's what mid-Michigan officials say

See which Lansing-area cities allow medical marijuana businesses

Contact Sarah Lehr at (517) 377-1056 or slehr@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGLehr.