Opposition to legal, state-regulated marijuana dispensaries is returning, following a vote by the 2020 City Council to allow them.
The Saginaw County Prevention Coalition, led by former mayor and current school board trustee Joyce Seals, has prepared a protest outline that begins, “The growing density of cannabis retailers negatively impacts our community. Density impacts youth’s use of and positive view of cannabis.”
Group members frown upon any sort of drug use and abuse, while airing specific concerns about THC’s health developmental effects on children and teens, which may not be general knowledge because marijuana is not viewed as a “hard” drug like heroin, crack cocaine or even excessive alcohol, or fatally dangerous like today’s prescription painkillers.
Complaints were issued most recently when the city’s 10th dispensary opened last spring in the former Hamilton Bakery on Gratiot, on the edge of the West Side Business District, known as Old Town.
Seals says renewed action is needed because she has learned, via an inquiry to Mayor Brenda Moore, that 19 more applications are in the process.
“We need to stop this in its tracks,” she told members of the recently-formed Health Equity Council, supported by the state through the county Department of Public Health, where Seals’ daughter, Dr. Delicia Pruitt, is medical director.
Opponents re-organize
Leaders of the renewed anti-weed effort include Sandra Robinson, prevention coalition coordinator, and Mary Ellen Johnson, president/CEO of the Saginaw County Youth Protection Council.
Legalization foes will explore whether the City Council may restrict new dispensaries, or possibly even roll back past authorizations. Also enlisted are Saleem Mannan, the most vocal protester during the past three years, along with Terry Pruitt, Saginaw NAACP president.
Statewide voters in 2018 backed a referendum that allows Michigan’s 500-plus cities, townships and villages to allow cannabis outlets. Most larger cities, even conservative Grand Rapids, have given the go-ahead for an average annual revenue intake in the $60,000 range per dispensary. Affluent suburbs and exurbs, like Saginaw Township and Frankenmuth, have been opposed on what their leaders describe as moral principles. Rural communities have been mixed — Vassar, for example, is home to Premier Provisioning, which occupies not only the Hamilton Bakery franchise but also a location at Genesee and Janes that has been a main site on downtown’s border.
“The well-being of our youth needs to be as important as cannabis revenue,” Robinson says, speaking of local shares of dollars from a 10 percent state excise tax. Communities do not receive similar sin taxes from alcohol and tobacco.
Brenda Moore and Annie Boensch were not yet mayor and pro-tem in September 2020 when they voted to allow the dispensaries. They still stick to their decisions. Other current members with “yes” votes at the time are Michael Balls, Bill Ostash and Reggie Williams II. Ostash since then has reaffirmed his vote, based on personal freedom of choice and also opposition to imprisoning people for cannabis use, which is out of statistical proportion for ethnic minorities. Meanwhile, Balls and Williams have expressed second thoughts, with Williams adding a cautionary note that teens obtain weed products from family and friends, not from sanctioned shops with age 21 minimums.
Council members who took office after 2020, and thus could carry swing votes in 2024, are Michael Flores, Monique Lamar Silvia, George Copeland and Priscilla Garcia. An election is in November with six seats open.
Zoning regs not strict
The City Council studied the question in 2019 and adopted zoning rules for the following year’s approval.
City planners crafted a 1,000-foot minimum distance from schools that are open and operating, but the limit is only 100 feet from churches. Zoning officials said there are too many churches for a stricter rule in that regard.
The one state drug tax that exceeds the 10 percent for marijuana is $2 for a pack of regular cigarettes and 32 percent for other forms of nicotine. State annual collections, rounded off, are $1.3 billion for lottery, $1.2 billion for gasoline, $830 million for tobacco, $130 million for beer, liquor, wine, and $111 million for marijuana.
This does not mean pot has become nearly as common as booze. The closeness in the dollar figures is because the alcohol tax remains far lower than for bud, so to speak, but the usage gap is narrowing.
East Side dispensaries are:
- Premier Provisioning, 910 E. Genesee
- OUI-D Shop, 3465 Sheridan
- Kush Kween, 2225 E. Genesee
On the West Side, sites are:
- Lume Cannabis, 3446 State
- Sozo Saginaw, 2617 Bay
- JARS Cannabis, 2301 N. Michigan
- Courtside Gardens, 1321 Court
- Primo Provisioning, 1205 Court
- Skymint Saginaw, 700 Gratiot
- Premier Cannabis, 1034 Gratiot
Regardless of the side of town, Seals asks, “What’s the saturation point? If we get 25 to 30 of them, can any of them make any money?”
For sake of comparison, state records indicate the city of Saginaw is home to 80 stores that sell beer and booze, and another 52 bars and taverns.
In a National Institutes of Health survey, one in five white adults answered that they are regular or occasional marijuana users, compared to a slightly lower one in six among blacks and Latinos. However, analysts point to economics instead of lower use rates for a comparative lack of dispensaries in low-income areas.
The City Council’s next meeting is Monday, Feb. 5.
