Cannabis Businesses Move Into A Muslim Majority Community In Michigan Despite Objections From Residents And City Council Members

The City Council in Hamtramck — a part of Michigan that has a majority Muslim population — repealed the ban on cannabis, also known as marijuana, businesses operating within the city, two months after it previously banned recreational marijuana businesses.

Hamtramck residents started a petition that collected almost 500 signatures asking the City Council to put cannabis back on their agenda. Those that supported the repeal cited numerous financial benefits that could positively impact the city, which has been named the poorest in the state and among the most deprived in the US.

Rep. Abraham Aiyash, the newly elected Muslim representative for District 4 in Michigan, believes the repeal will allow the city to improve its financial crisis.

“This is an issue that’s long-stemmed, and it’s not the fault of the mayor or council or city manager that we have funding shortfalls entirely,” he said. “This is a systemic issue due to revenue sharing that has not been fairly given out to cities, which is causing a whole lot of problems for communities like Hamtramck. We should try to use this as an opportunity to think about how we move forward as a community.”

However, members of the Muslim community are opposing the move.

Pictured: Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi, Chairman of Michigan Muslim Community Council and Pulmonologist in Warren, Mich., disagreed with the repeal, stating that drugs like cannabis should not be available recreationally.

“I believe all addicting and illicit drug use is very harmful to the individual, family and community, and marijuana is one of them,” he said. “It is a hallucinogen with significant damage to the judgment and body, even though it has some medicinal use that could be justified in some cases. I am not in support of legalizing marijuana for illicit use and pleasure.”

Due to the repeal, the city is currently tasked with creating regulations and limitations on accessing cannabis. Linda Ward, the petition organizer, said the pushback on the repeal is bringing out anti-Muslim sentiments.

“This recent debate about marijuana brought out a lot of hateful rhetoric and Islamophobia,” she said. “I also experienced some hateful rhetoric, ranging from ‘I hate Muslims,’ and ‘I should move out of Hamtramck and leave it to the Muslims.’ My family’s been here for over 100 years and I love living here in this multicultural city, which includes my Muslim neighbors.”

Opening Pleasantrees, the first cannabis dispensary in Hamtramck, resulted in an uproar from the community and the government. More than half of the people in Hamtramck are Muslims of Yemeni and Bangladeshi descent. Even their City Council has a majority Muslim stronghold.

“It’s a microcosm of the sort of debate that you see happening across the country with cannabis,” said Benjamin Sobczak, the chief legal officer for Pleasantrees.

Most of the disapproval came from the Muslim community, which mirrors the general concerns of the drug-related increasing crime rates and fears it will be making it more accessible to children. In fact, three of the Muslim City Council members — Mohammed Alsomiri, Nayeem Choudhury and Mohammed Hassan — introduced the ban in the first place.

“They wanted no part of medical marijuana, period, based on the pressure they were getting from people in the local community,” said Hamtramck City Attorney James Allen.

Concerns over possible cannabis businesses sneaking into town began in 2008 when Michigan voted to legalize medical marijuana and 10 years later when it was legalized for recreational use. Since then there have been 424 active adult-use licenses for the sale of cannabis in the state according to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.