DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit City Council members voted Tuesday to extend the ban on recreational marijuana until spring.
After an at times contentious public comment portion of Tuesday’s city council meeting, Councilman James Tate delayed the matter until March 31.
During the public hearing, several Detroit business owners expressed frustration at the prospects of a delay.
There was no opposition from any other council members.
The state of Michigan gave the green light to sell recreationally back in the beginning of December. But some cities are taking time to figure out how to legislate these sales.
Even though Michigan is allowing the sales of recreational marijuana — there is an ordinance in Detroit stating shops can’t apply recreationally until Jan. 31.
Watch the Detroit City Council public hearing below:
Shops in Ann Arbor have already starting selling recreationally.
Greenhouse of Walled Lake was approved to begin selling recreationally, although no date has been set.
There is only one shop in Wayne County selling recreationally – that is First Quality Medz in River Rouge.
There is concern over how recreational marijuana will help people living in Detroit.
In a Facebook post from Councilman Tate, he wrote it’s clear those in the medical marijuana industry are operated by those outside of the city.
Tate wants to make sure the money from recreational marijuana goes back into the city.
This letter is from @CouncilmanTate who voices concerns over how to regulate recreational marijuana in @CityofDetroit. Today there will be a vote to push back the sales to the end of March.
— Ali Hoxie (@ali_hoxie) January 28, 2020
DETAILS: https://t.co/PQIS6Z7gGx @wxyzdetroit pic.twitter.com/CrFluHhCFi
He wrote in part, “We have to use this legislation to identify ways to reduce the financial barriers of entry and eliminate the structural obstacles that many urban cities are seeking to resolve among communities of color.”
Detroit Police Chief James Craig says they are seeing an alarming number of violent crimes associated with the sales of marijuana on the black market, associating it with nearly 60 percent of recent assaults and homicides this year.
