Appeals Court: MI Cities Can't Ban Cultivation of Medical Marijuana

(LANSING, Mich.) -- A state appellate court has decided in a case involving an ordinance adopted by the city of Wyoming and challenged by a patient there that Michigan cities and townships cannot ban the cultivation and use of medical marijuana, the Detroit Free Press reports.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the court said that the ordinance was pre-empted by the medical marijuana state law, and that local governments could not use the federal prohibition on marijuana as an excuse to ban it, in an opinion released Wednesday morning, the paper says.

The ruling is a victory for advocates of medical marijuana, who say that cities and townships have been attempting to impede the law, which was approved by state voters in 2008, according to the Free Press.

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