INTERLOCHEN — Steve Ezell got into the medical marijuana business when his wife Barb was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
It has been nine years since he opened shop and Ezell wants to be able to also sell recreational marijuana — approved by Michigan’s voters in 2018 — but faces opposition from officials in Green Lake Township, where his Interlochen Alternative Health business is located.
Ezell, of Traverse City, said if he was able to sell to recreational users he would have about 30 customers per day. Instead, his clientele is down to fewer than eight per day, as many people are letting their medical marijuana cards lapse and doing their business where they aren’t needed.
He worries about being able to stay open.
“All of our business is leaving Interlochen and going to Honor,” Ezell said. “Green Lake Township seems happy that residents are driving 13 miles down the road.”
Township Trustee David Bieganowski opposes any sale of recreational cannabis in the township.
“I never want kids who walk from the Interlochen Arts Academy to Interlochen corners to have to walk past pot shops,” Bieganowski said. “I don’t want our campers walking to the store past pot shops. Our residents are not inconvenienced by having to drive 10 minutes down the road.”
Medical marijuana was legalized in 2008 when voters said “yes” to the Michigan Compassionate Care Initiative that let people with certain medical conditions possess limited amounts of marijuana with the approval of their physician. The law did not specifically allow dispensaries to operate, but did allow patients or their caregivers to grow up to 12 cannabis plants.
Ezell opened his medical provisioning center in 2013 and operated until 2017, when all dispensaries statewide were ordered to cease and desist. The shutdown followed a 2016 state mandate that all marijuana-related businesses — growers, transporters, dispensaries and more — would require a license.
Interlochen Alternative Health was one of eight dispensaries in Grand Traverse County that were served notices and raided, with all of their inventory seized by TNT officers who said the stores were selling to people who were not their patients.
Ezell was never charged with a crime and when he faced the state licensure board in 2019 the raid came up, but the board voted to issue him a license.
The following year recreational marijuana was approved, though it took the state about two years to come up with regulations governing its licensure and sale.
While previously all city, village and township boards that did not want dispensaries selling medical marijuana were required to pass a resolution opting out of them, those same boards now had to pass resolutions opting into the sale of recreational cannabis.
The Green Lake Township Board chose to allow medical provisioning centers, but twice said “no” to recreational.
The board believes marijuana should be available to those who need it for medical reasons, but not for pleasure, said township Supervisor Marvin D. Radtke Jr.
“We don’t believe we have the need for recreational sales in our community,” Radtke said. “The board thinks there are enough facilities around the area that meet the demand.”
Ezell’s conundrum is one that is felt throughout the state, where there are far more holders of licenses for medical cannabis than for recreational. Many have seen their business fall off.
In Traverse City there are no adult-use stores, though there are 12 licensed dispensaries of medical cannabis. Many of them, if not all, want to get into the recreational market and challenged the city in court on the zoning regulations it had set for obtaining a license.
The city has a limit of four adult-use stores. A recent recommendation by the Traverse City Planning Commission proposes 10 areas across the city that would each have its own limit of adult-use stores. If the city commission approves the measure, it could mean new life for all of the existing medical stores.
Ezell hosted three events where he gave presentations to the Interlochen community on what the sale of recreational cannabis would mean. He said some board members think that people will be hanging around outside the store smoking marijuana and he has even been accused of that taking place, he said.
But the store has a video security system around the building that is required by Michigan law. He thinks the township is just trying to get rid of him.
“We have empathy for Steve’s position,” Radtke said. “But the overall position of the board has been that we don’t need it, so why have it.”
Recreational cannabis also carries a 10 percent excise tax that is paid into the Marijuana Regulatory Fund and divvied up every year among municipalities that allow for its sale, with the county the store is located in getting an equal amount.
Benzonia Township, which has three licenses, and Benzie County both recently received $169,360 from the fund; Kalkaska Village, which has seven licenses, and Kalkaska County both received $395,174.
There is no such tax on medical marijuana.
Ezell, who is retired from the U.S. Postal Service, moved to Traverse City in 2010. Soon after he found out that Barb had a rare ovarian cancer. They have been married for 50 years.
Barb was given chemotherapy, which made her tired and sick. A neighbor recommended marijuana gummies and after about three weeks Ezell saw a vast improvement in her fatigue and nausea.
“I saw firsthand how effective it was at mitigating the affects of chemo,” Ezell said.
Barb got a medical marijuana card right away with Ezell listed as her caregiver, but he said some of the places he went to buy the gummies felt “shady” and he wondered why the products couldn’t be sold in a regular storefront.
He got the go-ahead from the township attorney and the zoning administrator to open up shop under the zoning ordinance health services category.
After the 2017 state shutdown, Ezell re-opened as a licensed provisioning center in 2020. He has been asking the township to allow recreational marijuana since then. The center is inspected by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) every six months and just passed its fifth inspection, he said.
Ezell said he has invested about $125,000 to re-open, an amount that includes attorney and accountant fees, a $6,000 state application fee, a $5,000 township application fee and an annual regulatory assessment fee of $44,000, though that amount is based on the number of licenses in the state and has gone down as licenses have increased.
He said many marijuana venders can afford the start-up fees because they are operating several storefronts located around the state, including Lume Cannabis Co., which has 32, including the one on Honor Highway in Beulah.
Ezell’s shop is run by him, Barb and their son.
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