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Grand Rapids considering marijuana ordinance before its legal recreationally

Posted at 6:25 AM, Nov 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-27 06:26:19-05
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Recreational marijuana will soon be legal in Michigan but Grand Rapids city leaders are considering an ordinance that would  allow dispensaries as early as next year.

The current proposal will allow 40-50 medical marijuana facilities within city limits with application fees costing$5,000 and those facilities will have the potential to be both medical and recreational. It will be about a year before the state finalizes regulations on recreational pot and the city commission wants to be ready.

“I do believe the work we`re doing right now to work through medical marijuana ordinance, will lay down the foundation and ground work that we`ll do sometime next year as we do recreational marijuana once we get more direction from the state,” said Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss.

“The city commission really wants to simplify the process for people as much as possible,” said Suzanne Shulz, of the Grand Rapids planning commission.

“With recreational coming, the discussion for recreational will be a lot easier because we’ve worked around a lot of the issues around medical,” she said.

The city could start accepting applications for dispensaries by early next year.