MI: Grand Rapids marijuana caregivers to be considered home business

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - After heated debate, the Grand Rapids City Commission passed an ordinance regulating medical marijuana.

"The day may come -- and maybe should come -- when marijuana is decriminalized," said Mayor George Heartwell. "But, until that day comes, this feels to me like an approach that is a good balance."

The commissioners voted to require caregivers -- the people who provide medical marijuana to licensed patients -- to register as a "home business."

The new ordinance will also require registered primary caregivers to be at least 1,000 feet away from any school.

Commission members voted to remove one section from the ordinance, which would have allowed police, firefighters or building inspectors to conduct warrantless searches of the caregivers' homes. The American Civil Liberties Union had opposed the search provision.

City leaders chose to require caregivers to be home businesses to avoid storefront dispensaries similar to the pot shops in California.

Voters approved a medical marijuana proposal in 2008, legalizing the medicinal use of the drug. But state law does not offer specifics on how marijuana should be distributed. Now Grand Rapids and other municipalities are adopting their own rules.

(At least they took out the bit about the warrantless searches for registered caregivers homes. :rolleyes: Progress. ~GG)