Royal Oak's Split Marijuana Vote Satisfies Neither Side

A vote by the Royal Oak City Commission left advocates of medical marijuana pledging to sue the city but gave opponents of the drug less than the complete ban they had hoped to see passed.

The vote, which calls for strict limits on the use and distribution of the drug, came early Tuesday following 90 minutes of public comments.

"We made it very clear that someone using medical marijuana in Royal Oak would not be subject to criminal prosecution," Commissioner Chuck Semchena, a longtime foe of medical marijuana, said Tuesday. "This new ordinance merely prohibits the growing or distribution of marijuana."

The vote was a deep disappointment to fellow Commissioner Jim Rasor, who joined Mayor Jim Ellison in opposing the strict limits.

"I have no doubt that we will find ourselves in court, spending taxpayer money to defend our indefensible and illegal action, instead of spending that money on police officers and other necessary city expenses," Rasor said.

Said Royal Oak City Manager Don Johnson: "I think we would've been sued no matter what we did."

The ordinance change stopped short of a proposal that medical marijuana users feared might ban the drug entirely. The seven-member commission tentatively passed that proposal last fall at what is called the first reading of a new ordinance. It was based on the Livonia model and, in effect, would have banned any use of medical marijuana, City Attorney David Gillam told commissioners last year.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has sued Livonia, along with Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, for passing such ordinances, on behalf of a Birmingham couple who said they have state-approval cards for treating their health conditions with medical marijuana but fear using or growing the drug in the three cities.

South Lyon, which has a similar de facto ban, was sued this month by a resident who has a state-approval card for using the drug, Grosse Pointe attorney Paul Tylenda, who said he is representing the man at no charge, said Monday.

Royal Oak, although it passed a more lenient rule than Livonia, can still expect to be sued, Tylenda said Monday night after joining the stream of public speakers at the commission meeting.

The 4-3 vote for the new limits modified the Livonia model to allow consumption of medical marijuana in Royal Oak, if the drug is "obtained in compliance with the state act," City Manager Johnson said. "But it is not allowing cultivation or distribution of medical marijuana in the city."

To comply with the Royal Oak ordinance change, residents must go outside the city to raise medical marijuana or obtain it from a state-approved caregiver, then they can return home to consume it, Johnson said.

The commissioners' vote did not follow a controversial recommendation by the Royal Oak Planning Commission to allow state-approved patients to grow the drug in their own homes and state-approved caregivers to grow it in their patients' homes, but which also prohibited any distribution or growing facilities.


Brett Tillander, executive director of the South Oakland Boys and Girls Club, said last week that he and 40 other local leaders strongly opposed to the Planning Commission's recommendation submitted a letter of protest to the city.