In their bi-weekly meeting last Thursday, Ann Arbor City Council passed a 120-day moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries in the city as a last-minute addition to the meeting’s agenda.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act passed in 2008 does not mention dispensaries, leaving municipalities across the state to grapple with zoning and regulation issues. Ann Arbor is one of several cities, including Holland and Ypsilanti, to place a moratorium on new dispensaries in order to give the council time to fill the gap in the state law.

City Attorney Stephen Postema opened the council’s discussion by explaining why the resolution was put forth.

“The dispensary issue that has come up is nowhere contemplated in the state law,” he said. “It’s a problem for municipalities. That’s what they have to deal with. Whether it came as a moratorium or as a directive of the council, it’s entirely proper for the public health, safety and welfare for the council to consider the issue.

“One of the concerns that … the council will deal with is really the aggregation and the consolidation of many, many shops or dispensaries together,” he added. “This really caused a big problem in California.”

Postema directed his comments at the meeting attendees, who were visibly frustrated by the timing of the resolution, which had been added to the agenda at 5 p.m. the previous night, leaving little time for the public to review the item.

Dennis Hayes, a local lawyer who now deals almost exclusively with medical marijuana issues, was the first of ten citizens to address the council in opposition to the resolution. He also made clear his suspicion of a hidden agenda.

“You all should know better than to do this stuff in secret,” he said.

Some members of the council, including Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1), Margie Teall (D–Ward 3) and Carsten Hohnke (D–Ward 5), said they were surprised by the last minute addition.

“Bringing this forward tonight, well actually last night, was a surprise to many of us because by rights we should’ve seen it last Friday. Our council rules say that as council members we should try very hard to bring forward our resolutions by Friday of the week before the council meeting occurs,” Briere said.

Hohnke said he suggested the council postpone the resolution until the following week. Briere supported his proposal, arguing that the public deserved time to look it over.

After some discussion, the council decided that it would be best to proceed with the resolution since it had already been brought to the table and delaying it would only push the moratorium further down the road.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Council Member Mike Anglin (D–Ward 5) said the discussion on the issue lasted for about an hour and a half, because it was the first time the council had addressed medical marijuana policy in a public meeting.