The Brighton City Council last Thursday night conducted the second reading of the proposed city ordinance banning commercial marijuana establishments, and then adopted the ordinance on a 6-1 vote.

Council Member Jon Emaus was the lone member voting no. City Manager Nate Geinzer tells WHMI that the ordinance is just temporary, and council will bring up the matter for discussion again once the state has put the proper procedures, standards and regulations in place.

Emaus, as the only one on council voting against the ordinance, says he has a problem with the fact that the ordinance has no end date, and therefore could remain in place for the foreseeable future. As an aside, Emaus is a Brighton attorney. Only one person spoke at the public hearing. He is Jerry Griffin of Green Oak Township, who is in the medical marijuana business. Griffin told council he agreed that it would be best to wait and see what the state does before allowing the establishment of recreational marijuana businesses in Brighton, remarking that there are fewer “unknowns” in medical marijuana.

Griffin is president of GMG Public Affairs Associates, which represents Compassionate Advisers, a medical marijuana company based in Farmington Hills. He says if and when the city decides to allow medical marijuana, it will find that many such companies have gone through a rigorous background check to ensure their legitimacy and financial stability.
Several other municipalities in Livingston County have also opted out of the recreational marijuana business, and for much the same reasons as Brighton's. (TT)