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Detroit
City
Council
extends
temporary
ban on
pot
sales
By
COREY
WILLIAMS
apnews.com
DETROIT
- A
temporary
ban on
recreational
pot
sales in
Detroit
has been
extended
through
March
31.
The
Detroit
City
Council
voted
Tuesday
on the
temporary
opt-out
ordinance
for
adult-use
marijuana.
Recreational
marijuana
use by
adults
who are
at least
21 is
legal
under
Michigan
law, but
small
recreational
sales
aren’t
legal
yet in
Detroit.
The
state
law
allows
communities
to
opt-out
of
allowing
recreational
marijuana
sales.
So far,
about
1,400
communities
have
done so.
Detroit’s
extension
will
allow
“additional
opportunity
to
continue
to
develop
a social
equity
program
that
ensures
all
eligible
Detroiters
have an
opportunity”
to
participate
in
Michigan’s
new
marijuana
industry,
according
to City
Councilman
James
Tate’s
office.
“It’s
clear
that
Detroit’s
medical
marijuana
industry
is
overwhelmingly
owned
and
operated
by
individuals
who
don’t
live in
the city
and take
their
dollars
back to
their
communities,”
Tate
said
Tuesday.
“It’s
critical
that we
take the
necessary
time now
to
ensure
that
Detroit’s
impending
recreational
marijuana
industry
will
properly
reflect
the
demographic
of the
city
it’s
located
in.”
Meanwhile,
Detroit’s
illegal
marijuana
market
is being
blamed
on an
uptick
in
violent
crime.
Police
Chief
James
Craig
said
last
week
that
many of
the
city’s
homicides
since
Jan. 1
have
involved
marijuana
deals.
The
demand
for
black
market
marijuana
has been
high
because
of its
low
cost,
Craig
told The
Detroit
News.
Police
are
cracking
down on
the
violence
by
focusing
on
people
possessing
firearms
illegally,
which
has
resulted
in 19
felony
arrests
since
last
Wednesday,
the
police
department
said in
a
release.
Officers
also
recovered
other
drugs,
including
cocaine
and
methamphetamine.
“This
effort
is
really
to focus
on the
violence
and
buyers
and
sellers
who are
illegally
carrying
guns,”
Craig
said
Tuesday.
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