Michigan just became the first state in the Midwest to legalize recreational marijuana but not everybody is pleased.
There were many “yes” votes in the Oakland County to make recreational marijuana legal, but the city of Troy did not contain many of them. Troy is just one of dozens of communities that do not want marijuana.
Troy residents, by narrow margins in nearly every precinct, voted against legal weed with a final tally of 19,508 “no” votes and 18,528 “yes” votes.
The Troy City Council has banned medical marijuana businesses from its city already.
“Council DIRECTS City Administration to draft an ordinance opting out of recreational marijuana facilities,” the seven members of the council said unanimously.
Another city voted to opt out of recreational weed businesses was Livonia. “I don’t think Livonia is ever going to be the Wild Open West,” said City Attorney Paul Bernier. “Livonia tends to be a conservative town. People who wanted to see it decriminalized didn’t necessarily want to see a ‘Weed Is Us’ on Plymouth Road.”
Scott Greenlee, executive director of Healthy and Productive Michigan, stated, “We’re probably working with close to 100. And there are many more than that who are waiting for the first of the year. They’re telling us they want as little marijuana around their community as possible. And a lot of these communities would opt out of allowing people to possess it, too.”
