MichiganRadio

Royal Oak looks to outlaw marijuana facilities DETROIT (Michigan Radio) - Royal Oak could become the latest Michigan city to bar marijuana grow operations and dispensaries under the state's new medical marijuana law.

City Commissioner Chuck Semchena is a former prosecutor who plans to introduce the ordinance tonight. He says the law voters approved in 2008 is riddled with problems.

"The amount of marijuana that can be grown so greatly exceeds the amounts of marijuana that can be legitimately consumed by the number of cardholders a caregiver can provide marijuana to, that there's going to end up being another giant black market for marijuana," said Semchena.

The ordinance would prohibit any business that's in violation of federal law. Marijuana possession is a violation of federal law, although the Justice Department has said it won't pursue cases against medical marijuana patients.

Several other communities have adopted similar ordinances, or amended their zoning laws to prevent marijuana facilities within their borders.

Contact Sarah Hulett at sarahhu@umich.edu © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio