I can say, unequivocally, that I have nothing against medical or recreational use of cannabis. Contrary to claims being made, I did not lead the opposition to the marijuana/cannabis dispensaries. I opposed the creation and make up of the Marijuana Study Group as well as the lack of resident input in the recommendations they made to Council for cannabis establishments in Lathrup Village. I supported the resident led petition asking Council to put the issue on the ballot because residents weren’t included in the development or decisions making process. Because of these things my position was that residents deserved to VOTE. Click here for e-mail with City Attorney Scott Baker re marijuana petition. Click here for e-mail chain with Jason Hammond re marijuana petition.

Before Barb Kenez and I were elected, the former Council made a unilateral decision to enact marijuana/cannabis ordinances themselves (despite the fact that almost 450 residents had signed a petition asking that the issue be put to a resident vote); and instead of Council taking those concerns into consideration and opening up discussion about putting it to ballot, they chose to throw the petition out because of a legal technicality and ignore those residents entirely), with some background research and recommendations from a Study Group that they formed (and conveniently did not subject to Open Meetings Act rules) that consisted of:

Saleem Siddiqi - Councilman & committee chair; Cora Morgan - wife of Mayor Pro-Tem Kantor; Don Eichstaedt - resident; Carl Woodson - resident & Sunnybrook neighbor of Kantor and Morgan; Ian Ferguson - Councilman and committee advisor; and Dawn Medley - former resident. Be sure to view the July 23, 2020 meeting on YouTube of the Lathrup Village Marijuana Study Group - very enlightening. 

Medley was later appointed to the City Council by Ferguson, Siddiqi, Kantor and Garrett to replace Councilwoman Stallings after her resignation. Garrett stated Medley was chosen because of “her great work on the Marijuana Study Group.” Even though Medley had sold her house in Lathrup Village by that time, she was appointed at a special meeting July 12, 2021. Some of her first votes - on July 26, 2021 - were to approve the marijuana/cannabis ordinances and to grant Kantor half of the alleyway next to his house - for free. Her last vote as a council member was November 1, 2021 - the week before the election - when she voted to approve the marijuana/cannabis application process. 

After I was elected 11-2-21 and before I was sworn in, I invited Garrett to my home. I wanted to talk with her about City Council and how we could work together. She came with a friend 11-6-21 and we talked about personal things, not City business.

I invited her again 11-12-21, along with Barb Kenez, so that we could talk about what being on City Council would look like and to ask her to work with us on things we wanted to address in the City. At that meeting, Garrett told Barb and me that she was against marijuana because it had negatively impacted her family. She didn’t want it in the City because she didn’t want it to negatively impact other families. (Kenez was opposed to dispensaries and I was opposed to the process that was used to make the decision. We both wanted residents to make the decision.) We realized we had 3 votes to put the issue on the ballot. 

On 12-20-21 there was a motion made by Kantor and seconded by Jennings to put the dispensary application process on hold. The vote was 5-0. That was a unanimous vote.

At a 4-4-22 Council meeting, Jennings suggested giving residents the option to vote. On 4-18-22 a charter amendment was presented to put the vote on the November 8, 2022 ballot. Though Kantor previously opposed allowing residents to make the decision, he joined the 4 of us on council in agreeing to take it to the voters. I did not oppose or support the ballot proposal. My goal was to put the issue to a vote and that was achieved. 

In the end, the charter amendment prohibiting cannabis establishments in Lathrup Village passed 1414 to 1211.

Click here for e-mail with City Attorney Scott Baker re Marijuana Petition

Click here for e-mail chain with Jason Hammond re Marijuana Petition