Federal ruling looms in legal challenge to Detroit’s recreational pot law

A federal judge in Detroit heard arguments Thursday in a legal battle that has halted the processing of applications for recreational marijuana businesses in the city. 

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman last month ordered Detroit to temporarily stop processing applications amid a lawsuit that argues a provision of a new city ordinance regulating recreational pot operations gives unfair preference to longtime residents  deemed legacy Detroiters. 

Friedman granted the preliminary injunction in favor of Crystal Lowe, a resident and prospective marijuana business operator, who sued the city over the ordinance on claims the law is “discriminatory” and limits her chances. 

Lowe’s attorney Kevin Blair argued to the judge Thursday that the ordinance is a penalty for people, like Lowe, who temporarily moved out of the city and it does nothing to help “folks who have been disproportionally affected by the war on drugs.”

“The city has stated they’re purposely restricting to allow ‘naïve and unsophisticated’ legacy applicants to get ahead,” Blair told Friedman. 

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