Detroit’s legal pot reticence spills over to Muslim-majority neighbor
The uproar over the opening of a pot shop in the city outside of Detroit is a microcosm of the disputes taking place across the country.
An attendant weighs marijuana at the Far West Holistic Center dispensary in Detroit. | AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
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Detroit’s slow walking of legal marijuana sales is driving the area’s pot market to an unlikely place: a Muslim-majority city best known for its hulking General Motors assembly plant.
At first glance, Hamtramck, Mich., is like thousands of other cities across the country debating
Marijuana and Muslim religion clash as 2nd dispensary slips into Michigan town
Updated Dec 22, 2020;
Muslim dogma, marijuana profits, lawyers and politics have collided to create a municipal mess in the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck.
Early last month, Hamtramck’s first retail marijuana shop, Pleasantrees, to the surprise of nearly all, popped up in a former Polish veteran’s club within an earshot of the Abu-Bakr Al-Siddique Islamic Center’s frequent call to prayer.
As many Americans’ views of marijuana shift and it becomes more socially acceptable, some Michigan Muslim communities remain staunchly against it, as illustrated by the conflict in which Hamtramck is currently embroiled.