Houghton Begins Marijuana Ordinance Discussion

The City of Houghton is taking its first steps toward developing a recreational marijuana ordinance.

City Manager Eric Waara told the city council last night that a draft ordinance proposal has been presented to the Planning Commission for preliminary review.

Waara said the ordinance has been written to allow retail marijuana sale, but not growing or testing. Some revisions will also need to be made to the city’s current medical marijuana ordinance, to make the two consistent.

Like many municipalities in Michigan, Houghton opted out of retail sale after a statewide referendum made it legal, waiting until the state provided licensing guidelines.

Waara emphasized that development of the ordinance does not necessarily mean that the city will actually proceed with licensing retail sale outlets. A final decision on that won’t be made until the ordinance is presented to the full council for review, and a public hearing is held.