Township board hears marijuana survey results

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Ironwood Township - If the residents who participated in a recent survey have their way, Ironwood Township won't be the site of any commercial medical marijuana facilities. That's what the township board of trustees heard Monday night as it got a breakdown of the survey's results.

Darrin Kimbler, the vice chair of the township's planning commission, presented the results of the medical marijuana portion of the commission's larger land-use survey.

He said the township got a total of 250 responses from the roughly 1,100 surveys mailed out, either through the shorter paper version focused on medical marijuana, or the longer online version.

One of the questions asked whether any type of medical marijuana facility should be allowed in the township.

"By far the largest category was strongly disagree; followed by agree, and then strongly agree and disagree," Kimbler said.

According to the information given to the board; 64 percent of respondents strongly disagreed with allowing any type of facility, 20 percent agreed with allowing at least one type of facility, 6 percent strongly agreed with allowing medical marijuana, 4 percent disagreed and the remainder either had no opinion or were unsure.

The question also allowed for participants to write out comments expanding their thoughts. Of the 45 written comments, Kimbler said 51 percent could be considered negative toward allowing medical marijuana in the township, while 40 percent were pro-medical marijuana. He said the remaining 9 percent showed no definitive leaning toward either side, often listing pros and cons in the same answer or stating a need for more information.

A different open-ended question allowed those taking the survey to give "any other comments on (medical marijuana regulation in the township."

Of the 111 comments, Kimbler said 62 percent could be considered against medical marijuana, 29 percent could be in favor and 9 percent were unclear.

A third question asked people which of the five possible types of facilities - growers, processing, provisioning centers, secure transporters and safety compliance facilities - they would be ok with in the township. Among those who were ok with some facilities moving into the township; there was a slight preference for allowing grower facilities over the other types allowed under Michigan law.

Along with providing the board with the results of the survey, Kimbler discussed the demographics of those taking it and the methodology he used.

Over 65 percent of those taking the survey have lived in the township for 21 years or more, and just over 56 percent were between the ages of 55 and 74.

Due to the large number of older respondents, Kimbler said he tried to minimize age-related sampling bias.

He said he weighted the age categories in relation to the township's population breakdown according to the most recent U.S. census, and assigned a resulting value to each age group.

"So if you're over-sampled, you're less than one; if you're under-sampled, you have a value greater than one," Kimbler said.

Even with the weighted results accounting for potential age-related biases, the opinions toward medical marijuana stayed negative.

"It did not dramatically change the responses," Kimbler said. "... Especially on the percentage side, most people were still against having any kind of facility in the township."

While the survey attempted to address age-related biases, Kimbler said there were other biases that may not have been addressed - such as the survey being sent primarily to property owners rather than renters.

Kimbler also calculated the margin of error for the survey; and said there was a 99 percent confidence that the margin of error for the survey is less than eight percent.

"So you have a pretty strong analysis here that there's not a lot of missing people out there, and if there were it wouldn't really change the results dramatically," he told the board, crediting the relatively large number of responses received for the statistical validity of the results.

Supervisor Steve Boyd told the Daily Globe the purpose of the survey "was to get the pulse of township opinion" and while he wasn't sure what direction the township board may go, he said if anything public hearings and informational panels on the issue would likely be the next step considered to further include township residents in the process.

While the township is considering what to do regarding medical marijuana, a lot of the urgency could go away if an expected ballot measure in November legalizing recreational marijuana in the state passes.

Kimbler said the bill would allow adults 21 and older to grow up to 12 plants at home, as well as possess up to 10 ounces in their homes and 2.5 ounces in public. While the proposed ballot measure would set up a parallel framework to the existing commercial medical marijuana for recreational marijuana, Kimbler said he guessed at least some of the licensing process could be the same. Given legalization of recreational marijuana would remove the need to get a prescription, Kimbler said it would likely mean less people going through the process of obtaining medical marijuana, which has been true for Colorado after recreational marijuana was legalized there.

During a public comment portion of the meeting, a resident said people he talked to were didn't want to come out in favor of medical marijuana due to fear of it impacting their jobs and listed the economic benefits he felt the township could see be allowing commercial medical marijuana. He also argued medical marijuana was already here on an individual level and allowing commercial facilities would simply provide the township an untapped revenue source.

In other action:

-Boyd began the meeting by recognizing two of the township's volunteer firefighters - Lewis Somero and Chief Scott Carlson - for their efforts in saving a woman during the Dec. 29 fire at the Wildwood Apartments.

Boyd said the two found an unconscious woman in one of the apartments and rescued her while fighting the flames.

"While one of them kept the fire at bay, the other took off his respirator and placed it over the unconscious victim," Boyd said. "Their combined actions and quick thinking stopped the fire from spreading, and more importantly saved a life."

Members of the woman's family thanked the two as well, reporting the woman was out of a coma and responding to visitors.

-Trustee Marlene Saari-Mieloszyk reported there will be a Roosevelt School reunion this summer for former students, teachers and others associated with the school. The reunion will be at 3 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Ironwood Memorial Building. She said there is a Facebook page for those interested in attending.