One of the reasons some city officials wanted to replace former City Attorney John Clark with James Allen was his expertise in the state’s medical marijuana dispensary law.
For several years city officials have dragged their feet on creating a zoning law to allow this legal enterprise to operate here. Hamtramck is not alone. A majority of communities in the state have also decided not to touch this issue.
The current state law is complex and extremely stringent. Would-be operators have to come up with a substantial amount of financial backing to be in business.
But that’s not the city’s problem.
Hamtramck simply has to come up with a zoning plan to allow dispensaries to open up. There was some debate several years ago over how many licenses should be permitted and where dispensaries can set up business.
That doesn’t seem like a very difficult challenge. In the meantime, the city has been missing out on a valuable tax revenue stream.
Let’s get this going. It’s an issue that is long overdue to be green-lighted.
april 6, 2018