ELECTION MISSTEP COULD HARM INDUSTRY

Marijuana Dispensary Owners Can't Afford Errors

Here are lessons for members of the medical marijuana
industry:

People who want to get involved in politics are obliged to learn the
laws governing elections before doing so.

People who don't bother to learn the laws and run afoul of them are
not good representatives of their industry, and, in fact, could bring
harm to their peers.

State and local officials are right to quickly and rigorously
investigate reported efforts by a Lansing medical marijuana dispensary
to encourage voting, apparently by offering free products to legal
medical marijuana users.

Reports last week suggest a dispensary in Lansing had promoted on a
website an offer of free merchandise for legal patients who registered
to vote.

Let's be clear, having a political agenda is fine. There are numerous
organizations and individual business owners in the community who
display candidate signs, offer formal endorsements or otherwise
involve themselves in local elections.

Holding a voter registration drive is a common way for groups to
encourage their members to vote. And it's understandable that people
who participate in the same activities, such as a church or business
association, might advocate similar political views.

But offering people something of value as incentive for their votes is
not allowed. In fact, it can be charged as a misdemeanor crime. And an
organization that raises or spends more than $500 on an election is
supposed to register as a political committee under state law.

Medical marijuana dispensaries have been controversial across the
state. Lansing spent months hammering out an ordinance on how to
govern them.

In the end, many found themselves in violation of the new law because
they are in a commercial location within 1,000 feet of a school or
church. So it's understandable that marijuana business owners are
keenly interested in who serves on Lansing's City Council after the
Nov. 8 election. In addition, those folks will review the one-year cap
on how many dispensaries can operate in the city.

But it was noted here after the city passed the ordinance that
dispensary owners can best help themselves by proving they are
upstanding members of the business community. If this episode results
in criminal charges or fines, it hurts those who strive to meet that
standard.