The Ypsilanti City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution surrounding entheogenic plants during their latest meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Resolution No. 2024-001 states that arresting and investigating those who use, grow, and are in possession of entheogenic plants will have the lowest priority of the City's law enforcement.
It is also stated that City funds and resources shall not be used to make these arrests or conduct these investigations.
The resolution pertains to plants that may be scheduled at both the state and federal levels, although the plants encompassed in the resolution are limited by the compounds they contain.
"There's lots of studies that show these are very beneficial in terms of alleviating addiction... specifically opiates," Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Wilcoxen said.
The resolution does not allow for the sale and manufacturing of the plants, the possession and distribution of the plants in schools, and driving under the influence or causing a public disturbance as a result of plant use.
Prior to the City Clerk initiating the vote, the public had the opportunity to address the Council either in-person or virtually. No individuals spoke against the resolution.
After Resolution No. 2024-001 was passed by all six Council members, five additional resolutions were discussed and voted on.
Before voting on resolutions, however, the meeting began with City Council members discussing values. Facilitated by Sharonda Simmons, members dissected what values are, including the City's three main values of heritage, pride, and diversity.
Council Member Evan Sweet chose to speak on the value of pride and its meaning within the City.
"Seeing that we have a vast amount of residents that are very invested in the community and have a lot of passion and are willing to stick up and do things that maybe folks in other cities and communities might not do," Sweet said, "there's a lot of people that are really rooted and have a lot of care and concern, and it shows through their actions, and I think that we see that day to day."
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