The City Council opened up a community discussion regarding marijuana regulations at their Tuesday, December 4, 2018, regular meeting. The State currently allows commercial medical marijuana facilities with elected municipal board approval, as well as growing at home as a caregiver. Eastpointe has not, at this point, opted-in for commercial medical marijuana facilities. With the passing of Proposal 1 on November 6 - with 55% of voters statewide voting in favor, and 67% of voters in Eastpointe voting in favor - recreational marijuana use and business will become legal in Michigan. As of today, recreational marijuan is legal, so long as the user has no more than 2.5 ounces on them, or 10 ounces stored away in a locked container. Both medical marijuana users and recreational marijuana users can only use on private property. Folks cannot smoke at the park, or while they are walking down the street.
What the City will be tasked with is determining which and how many of each of the types of commercial facilities are allowed. The five types of operations are growing, processing, dispensing, transporting and testing. Each of these types require different zoning, and the Planning Commission with approval of the City Council can zone as they please.
The meeting on Tuesday contained a Public Hearing regarding marijuana regulations. Twenty-six folks spoke at the hearing, which included residents, business owners, and individuals in the industry. Most spoke favorable about marijuana or marijuana businesses coming to Eastpointe, while a few spoke against it.
As time moves on, I will continue to update this article with more information about medical marijuana and recreational marijuana in Eastpointe. (UPDATE: instead of updating this specific article, I have created a new one)