Last September, the Ann Arbor Chronicle filed suit against the City of Ann Arbor claiming that members of the City Council violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA).  The Chronicle alleged that the City violated the OMA by discussing medical marihuana issues with the city attorney behind closed doors.  Shortly after that closed meeting, the City of Ann Arbor voted on a moratorium prohibiting the establishment of  any new medical marihuana dispensaries.  The court dismissed the claim recognizing that the Council was allowed to have a closed meeting to discuss privileged attorney-client information.  For more information, please see the following article.

In July of last year, Lyon Township amended its zoning ordinance to prohibit any use that violates federal law, similar to the ordinances being challenged by the ACLU previously discussed here.  Recently, attorneys on behalf of a medical marihuana patient suffering from HIV, filed suit in Oakland County arguing the Township's ordinance is preempted by state law. For more information, please visit the Oakland Press. 

The Township Board approved a six-month moratorium on "medical marihuana permits," allowing officials time to draft an ordinance.  As quoted by the Plainwell & Otsego Union Enterprise, Township Supervisor John Brokus spoke on the confusion surrounding the Medical Marihuana Act, "Basically, we're going to buy about six months time to decide what we want to do with this," Brokus said. "Between the state and the federal government, they don't know what they're doing, so I don't know how they expect us to know what's going on."  The Planning Commission plans to prepare a draft ordinance.