Local City Voters Say Yes To Marijuana, City Officials Say No!

Remember the euphoria of all the legal marijuana supporters after the 2018 election?  Then, remember the disappointment of the legal marijuana supporters when communities decided not to allow the sale of recreational marijuana?  Then, remember the euphoria when communities started on the road to permits and retail operation?  Now, in one local municipality, even though the voters said yes the officials are saying no.

In an article on woodtv.com, when the ballot proposal decriminalizing recreational marijuana passed in 2018, 60% of East Grand Rapids residents approved the act, the second highest rate of approval in Kent County behind the city of Grand Rapids.  But a month after the November 2018 vote, the city commission voted to ban recreational marijuana businesses in the city of 10,000.  The city commission wanted a chance to see how the state’s decriminalization worked out and to see if it was something that East Grand Rapids wanted to be a part of.

East Grand Rapids joined every other community in Kent County, except for Grand Rapids and Lowell, in opting out of the marijuana industry.  But now the city says that under the rules of the state marijuana law, a medical marijuana facility cannot be within 1,000 feet of a school.  City officials claim that nowhere in the city of 3.4 square miles is it possible to be more than 1,000 feet from either the high school or Wealthy elementary and still be in an area zoned for businesses.