By Matt Mackinder
Clarkston News Editor

A local group wants to set up two marijuana facilities in Clarkston, and Clarkston City Council is ready to fight to keep the group out.
On the evening of Aug. 17, council met for a special meeting to consider appealing an Aug. 16 court decision that would allow a referendum on the Nov. 2022 ballot from the Clarkston Cares 2022 group authorizing two retail medical marijuana facilities in the city. After a closed session for an attorney-client discussion, council returned to open session and voted unanimously to authorize City Attorney Tom Ryan to immediately file an appeal before the ballots are printed.
“The city is appealing a judge’s decision allowing an out-of-town petitioner to shortcut legal process to put an issue on the Clarkston ballot for Nov. 8, 2022,” said Clarkston Mayor Eric Haven. “This petitioner from Oak Park and Livonia (ironically calling themselves “Clarkston Cares 2022”) wants to override Clarkston City Council and alter our city charter to allow two marijuana distribution locations in our half-square-mile city.”
Going back, council voted unanimously May 13, 2019 in favor of an ordinance that prohibited marijuana establishments from operating within the city limits. This decision came not long after recreational marijuana was made legal approved by Michigan voters.
Then on June 24, 2019, Detroit-based marijuana company Pleasantrees made a presentation to the city council about setting up a medical marijuana dispensary at 21 North Main Street that was not approved.
According to local resident Susan Bisio, who writes about city happenings on her ClarkstonSecrets.com website, “and I’m sure the city council and city attorney thought that would be the end of the issue in Clarkston. Except that it wasn’t because the city council doesn’t necessarily have the final say about marijuana sales in Clarkston.”
“There are two types of local laws in Clarkston – our ordinances and our charter,” Bisio explained. “Clarkston voters approved the charter, and it is the supreme law in Clarkston. City council passes ordinances, but they can’t pass an ordinance that conflicts with the charter. Clarkston has prohibited all marijuana sales by ordinance, and there is nothing in our charter about this issue. But you should be aware that there is a shadow group out there trying to change that while pretending they ‘care’ about medical marihuana use. They even use ‘care’ in their names, so it must be totally true.”
Also according to Bisio, Michigan allows voters to change (and approve) state and local law on their own.
“Without getting too far into the weeds, a ‘referendum’ in Michigan usually means that the legislature has passed legislation, but the voters can challenge that by asking for a vote on the law before it becomes effective, while an ‘initiative’ is a ballot proposal driven by securing enough registered voter signatures. We’ve seen a lot of those this year, haven’t we?
“The Clarkston charter allows both initiatives and referendums, and they are discussed in Sections 6.14-6.17 of the Clarkston charter, though I would note that the charter requires more signatures than state law does, so the state law requirement of signatures from ‘at least’ five percent of Clarkston voters prevails.
Last year, an organization calling itself the Oakland Cares Coalition filed a number of lawsuits against various Oakland County clerks, including Clarkston Clerk Jennifer Speagle.
“Its goal was to secure a court order that would force the local clerks to put the Oakland Cares Coalition initiative on the ballot to be voted on,” Bisio said. “The city council discussed the Clarkston petition on July 26, 2021, and we were told that this group was seeking a charter amendment to end the prohibition on marijuana facilities in Clarkston, to assist medical marijuana patients with critical medical conditions, and to create a Clarkston department of medical marihuana with local regulatory authority. (Remember, charter amendments trump ordinances, so this proposed charter amendment would have superseded the marihuana ordinance we currently have if a majority of voters had voted for it.) At the August 9, 2021, city council meeting, the city manager told us the petitions didn’t have enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. The Oakland Cares Coalition sued Clarkston – and lost.
“It now appears that the Oakland Cares Coalition has arisen like a phoenix from the ashes to become Clarkston Cares. (How original.) As I said before, I have serious doubts that either of these organizations actually care about anyone – or anything – except making money for their secret clients.”

PHOTO: Clarkston City Hall. File photo: Matt Mackinder