The Michigan Supreme Court says it will consider the legality of a city's zoning ordinance that prohibits the use, manufacture or cultivation of medical marijuana.
The court issued an order Wednesday agreeing to hear an appeal filed by the city of Wyoming in the Grand Rapids area. Justices want to know if the zoning ordinance is superseded by Michigan's 2008 voter-approved medical marijuana law.
Significantly, the court also plans to consider if the state law is pre-empted by a federal law that makes marijuana use illegal.
Retired attorney and qualified medical marijuana patient John Ter Beek sued Wyoming after council members voted in 2010 to make marijuana use illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. He lost in a Kent County court but won in the state appeals court.