West Michigan communities move forward with ban on recreational pot businesses

On Tuesday, Portage city leaders voted to ban recreational marijuana businesses from operating in the city for the time being.

City leaders in Battle Creek have no plans to ban anything just yet, but if you live there that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to go out and buy recreational marijuana come December 6, the day the new law goes into effect.

Battle Creek City Manager Rebecca Fleury said voting to legalize recreational pot is just the beginning of a very long process that could take years.

“We’re getting a lot of questions here from our neighbors about how we are and how we aren’t going to be moving forward,” she said.

Battle Creek and other communities have until December 2019 to figure out how to regulate the sale of recreational marijuana. Fleury plans to proceed with caution.

“We have to realize that we do get a lot of federal funding and marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. We don’t want to put any federal funding in jeopardy,” she said.

Next week Ross Township will consider passing an ordinance that prohibits recreational marijuana businesses from operating there. This comes after a heated battle over medical marijuana grow facilities earlier this year. The township ended up repealing ordinances that allowed medical marijuana grow faculties.

Medical marijuana facilities are legal in Battle Creek, but none are currently operating. Fleury believes regulations already in place for the medical industry will help with the recreational

“I think it does help us it gives us some kind of workable framework but there’s still a lot we need to work out with the state and specifics for our community,” Fleury said.

Beginning December 6, you have to be at least 21 to smoke recreational marijuana. Selling recreational marijuana is illegal until there is a regulatory process in place.