Medical Marijuana Coming To Saline

Marijuana isn’t coming to Saline this week, but it could get to the edges of Saline in midsummer. Saline city council approved a proposal with the task force assigned to the city council on how best to address the burgeoning medical marijuana industry by approving the inclusion of certain types of businesses in the city’s master plan on Monday evening; but it won’t take effect immediately.

The adversary panel will now meet again to determine the forms and fee structure new medical marijuana companies must go through when starting their new businesses. Once that is done, they will submit the draft proposal to the Council for final approval at the July 12th meeting.

“Assuming this passes July 12th, and it will, I would expect it to go into effect and they can process the applications almost immediately,” Mayor Brian Marl told the Sun Times News after the session closed on April 21st June.

To be clear, what Saline is suggesting is getting ahead with only medical marijuana. Marijuana recreational facilities will be considered in the future. And given Saline’s relatively small size, Councilor Janet Dillon raised concerns that she could potentially lose control of the number of medical marijuana facilities that would be allowed in Saline.

“My concern is that we are using all of our space for medical purposes and that all income goes to recreational activities,” Dillon said before voting with the rest of the council on the measure.

Care centers would need to be at least 80 meters apart and 300 meters from each school. And given the geography of Saline, that means any marijuana-based business moving into town must stay at least 300 meters from schools, severely limiting business location.

And since that restriction includes Henne Field, it means downtown Saline won’t have a medical or recreational marijuana dispensary. Any marijuana plant that comes to Saline would have to set up shop on the outskirts.

The ordinance allows the city to welcome marijuana processing plants, staging centers, safe transportation, and safety compliance operations. According to assistant city manager Mike Greene, companies are allowed to operate both medical and recreational businesses in the same building but would need to be approved through two separate applications.

A portion of the marijuana industry that is not eligible for saline grows marijuana.

“It is very stressful for public utilities,” said Mayor Pro Tem Dean Girbach to grow marijuana in a city. “It’s a lot of water, a lot of electricity.”

And Saline cannot afford that at the moment. The aging wastewater system of Saline is being overhauled and massively expanded, as most of the systems have either reached their useful life or have already exceeded their useful life and will probably no longer meet the needs of the community very quickly, as Saline’s population continues to grow. And with the city already spending tens of millions of dollars improving and expanding its uses, there is no practical opportunity or political will to allow a growth operation to be set up within the city limits of Saline.