A proposal to restrict where marijuana advertisements can be located in Detroit is moving forward.
The proposed changes to city code, which would prohibit fixed marijuana advertisements from being within a 1,000-foot radius of any “advertisement-sensitive property” such as schools and libraries, were approved by the Detroit City Council’s public health and safety standing committee Monday. The proposal will now head to Detroit City Council.
“This is a very, very important ordinance at a very important time, and even though we adults made a decision to legalize marijuana and vaping, sometimes the decisions that we make as adults are not always in the best interest of our students and our youth,” council member Angela Whitfield Calloway, who is spearheading the proposal, said at the committee meeting.
Recreational marijuana was legalized in Michigan in 2018 and recreational cannabis officially started being sold in Detroit in early 2023. Since then, more than 50 recreational marijuana dispensaries have opened in the city.
Calloway said the proposal comes as Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has expressed concerns about the proliferation of marijuana in schools in recent years.
Like restrictions on alcohol and tobacco advertisements, fixed cannabis advertisements would not be allowed within 1,000 feet of schools, child care centers, juvenile detention or correctional facilities, libraries, parks, playgrounds and recreation centers, among other locations.
This ordinance, if passed, only applies to billboards and not moving marijuana advertisements, such as airplanes pulling advertising banners and mobile LED billboard trucks, Whitfield Calloway’s office told the Free Press.
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