rambozo420
03-02-2011, 10:46 AM
KALAMAZOO — Medical marijuana caregivers in Kalamazoo Township who missed a 15-day window last year to be placed on the township’s inventory of caregivers will not be subject to a civil infraction if they sign up late, Kalamazoo County District Court Judge Richard A. Santoni ruled Wednesday.
The ruling applies to caregivers who were registered with the state prior to Oct. 18, when the township instituted a 6-month moratorium on new caregiver operations.
At that time, registered caregivers were given an opportunity to voluntarily give township police the address and a description of the building in which the operation was housed.
Caregivers were not required to give their name, but if they failed to sign up within the 15-day window they would be guilty of a civil infraction, under the moratorium.
“That aspect of the ordinance is in direct conflict with the Medical Marijuana Act,” Santoni said of the township policy and state law.
Township officials have said the moratorium, which expires April 18, gives them time to craft a medical marijuana ordinance governing sales and dispensation of the drug. The township board is scheduled Feb. 28 to give first reading to a draft ordinance.
So far, the police inventory has four residences on it.
Santoni ruled Wednesday that the fine for latecomers to the police inventory should be stricken from the moratorium’s language after hearing a case involving Steven Martindale, a township resident and registered medical marijuana patient and caregiver who allowed police to search his home in December after an officer smelled marijuana while assisting a Child Protective Services investigation.
Martindale showed the officer his state registration cards and, after a tour of the home, the officer left without issuing a ticket. However, Martindale was ticketed for a civil infraction in January after it was determined he was not on the township’s inventory.
“It demonstrates the ability to negate unreasonable regulations,” Martindale’s attorney, Daniel Grow, said of Santoni’s ruling
The ruling applies to caregivers who were registered with the state prior to Oct. 18, when the township instituted a 6-month moratorium on new caregiver operations.
At that time, registered caregivers were given an opportunity to voluntarily give township police the address and a description of the building in which the operation was housed.
Caregivers were not required to give their name, but if they failed to sign up within the 15-day window they would be guilty of a civil infraction, under the moratorium.
“That aspect of the ordinance is in direct conflict with the Medical Marijuana Act,” Santoni said of the township policy and state law.
Township officials have said the moratorium, which expires April 18, gives them time to craft a medical marijuana ordinance governing sales and dispensation of the drug. The township board is scheduled Feb. 28 to give first reading to a draft ordinance.
So far, the police inventory has four residences on it.
Santoni ruled Wednesday that the fine for latecomers to the police inventory should be stricken from the moratorium’s language after hearing a case involving Steven Martindale, a township resident and registered medical marijuana patient and caregiver who allowed police to search his home in December after an officer smelled marijuana while assisting a Child Protective Services investigation.
Martindale showed the officer his state registration cards and, after a tour of the home, the officer left without issuing a ticket. However, Martindale was ticketed for a civil infraction in January after it was determined he was not on the township’s inventory.
“It demonstrates the ability to negate unreasonable regulations,” Martindale’s attorney, Daniel Grow, said of Santoni’s ruling