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NEWS

Thursday, May 31, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
New dispensary in AA

Licensing changes 
allow for new 
marijuana facility

By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

Summer Daily News Editor

Amid a new Michigan licens-

ing act and an updated Ann 

Arbor ordinance, a new mari-

juana dispensary has opened 

near the University of Michi-

gan’s campus. Green Planet 

dispenses medical marijuana 

to registered patients and is 

located at 700 Tappan Ave., 

across from the Ross School of 

Business and the Law Quad-

rangle.

Green Planet is one of many 

new dispensaries opening in 

the Ann Arbor area after the 

legal changes put into effect 

earlier this year.

According to its website, the 

dispensary is part of a non-

profit group aiming to assist 

medical 
marijuana 
patients 

and share information about 

marijuana’s medical benefits.

Medical 
marijuana 
usage 

has 
garnered 
recent 
con-

troversy 
regarding 
addic-

tion potential and regulation 

among government officials 

and the media in recent years. 

However, some sources state 

medicinal marijuana can help 

treat different forms of cancer, 

mental illness and more. The 

drug has not yet been approved 

for use by the Food and Drug 

Administration.

City 
Planning 
Manager 

Brett Lenart told The Michi-

gan Daily the dispensary met 

the requirements for approval.

“The 
Planning 
Commis-

sion did find that 700 Tappan 

Ave met the requirements set 

forth by City Ordinance, and 

recommended approval of a 

Special Exception Use Per-

mit,” Lenart wrote in an email 

interview. “As part of the con-

ditions of approval, the appli-

cant will need to close the 

vehicular curb cut, which will 

reduce one instance of poten-

tial pedestrian/vehicular con-

flicts.The applicant still has to 

demonstrate compliance with 

building codes, and needs to 

apply for and receive operating 

permit and license from the 

City Clerk and State of Michi-

gan.”

Green Planet Director Mike 

McLeod felt Ann Arbor was 

the obvious choice to open 

the dispensary because of the 

city’s leadership in science, 

knowledge, medicine and can-

nabis. Many of Green Planet’s 

workers are U-M alumni.

“Green Planet is passion-

ate about medical cannabis,” 

McLeod wrote in an email 

interview. “We provide our 

patients with the best ser-

vice and quality of medicine 

available. Green Planet has 

the most knowledgeable and 

experienced staff in our indus-

try, many of whom are U of 

M grads including graduate 

degrees from the School of 

Public Health and Pharmacol-

ogy.”

City Councilmember Chuck 

Warpehoski, 
D-Ward 
5, 

explained dispensaries in the 

city have certain regulations 

they must follow in order to 

operate, such as designated 

locations and proximity to 

other dispensaries. He also 

said the city has a history of 

supporting marijuana usage.

“Ann Arbor has long been 

a town that has been tolerant 

and supportive of marijuana 

use,” Warpehoski said. “With 

the state putting forward reg-

ulations that allow for a clear 

pathway for opening dispen-

saries, there has been a huge 

uptick of interest.”

According to Warpehoski, 

the city has not received any 

recent complaints regarding 

dispensaries.

A ballot proposal to be voted 

on in November could legal-

ize marijuana usage across 

the state of Michigan, which 

Warpehoski 
believes 
could 

assist 
law 
enforcement. 
If 

passed, the law would make 

possession and sale of marijua-

na up to 2.5 ounces legal and 

impose a 10-percent excise and 

6-percent sales tax on retail 

purchases.

“I believe there would be a 

huge relief on our criminal jus-

tice system,” Warpehoski said. 

“It would be a significantly 

positive thing to address the 

problem of mass incarcera-

tion.”

U-M, Shanghai ‘U’ renew partnership

By ROB DALKA

For The Daily 

The University of Michigan 
and Shanghai Jiao Tong Univer-
sity have renewed their support 
of the Joint Institute, signing 
another 10-year agreement and 
dedicating a new building to the 
institute.
The UM-SJTU Joint Insti-
tute, located in Shanghai, began 
in 2006 with the goal to build 
a 
world-class 
teaching 
and 
research institute in China and 
to nurture innovative leaders 
with a global perspective. It was 
born out of faculty exchanges 
and 
research 
collaborations 
between the University and 
SJTU led by Professor Jun Ni, an 
alum of SJTU and current U-M 
professor of engineering and 
Shien-Ming (Sam) Wu professor 
of manufacturing science. 
Pamela Byrnes, U.S. director 
of the UM-SJTU Joint Institute, 
feels Ni strived greatly to make 
the Institute a success.
“Professor 
Jun 
Ni 
went 
out to recruit faculty and stu-
dents,” Byrnes said. “He worked 
between both institutions, the 
SJTU and the University of 
Michigan, to help make this a 
realization.”
In 2014, the institute was 
awarded the Andrew Heiskell 
Award for Innovation in Higher 
Education from the Institute of 
International Education, one of 
the most prestigious awards in 
international education.
Currently, students from 17 
countries attend the Joint Insti-
tute for full-time degree pro-
grams and short-term exchange 
programs. The curriculum is 
modeled on curriculum at the 
University of Michigan and 
many U-M students elect to 
attend the Joint Institute as a 
part of a study abroad program.
In collaboration with the Uni-
versity of Michigan, the Joint 
Institute offers a dual-degree 
program. Through this pro-
gram, students spend their first 
two years at the Joint Institute 
in Shanghai. The final two years 
are spent at the University of 

Michigan, where the students 
earn their bachelor’s degree in 
one of 15 majors through the 
College of Engineering, or in 
math or physics through LSA. 
After the completion of a U-M 
bachelor’s degree, the students 
then return to SJTU to complete 
the 
remaining 
requirements, 
ultimately earning two degrees, 
one each from U-M and SJTU.
“The Joint Institute is a great 
way for people from very differ-
ent cultures to get to know each 
other, understand the cultures 
and be able to work globally 
on global issues,” Byrnes said. 
“There are all sorts of different 
avenues of connections for these 
students.”
A new program, the Global 

Degree Pathway, became for-
malized with the new 10-year 
agreement. This program gives 
all students who complete a 
bachelor’s degree at the Joint 
Institute a chance to pursue a 
master’s degree in a variety of 
disciplines at the University of 
Michigan and other internation-
al institutions.
Amy Conger, assistant vice 
provost of global and engaged 
education, said the Institute is 
striving to make the program 
better each year.

“We learned very much from 
the success of the dual-degree 
program, and going into the 
Joint Institute’s second decade, 
we are trying to envision what 
JI graduates need at this time,” 
Conger said. “More and more 
we are seeing deep value in the 
combination of an undergradu-
ate degree in an engineering 
discipline plus a graduate degree 
from an international institution 
in either engineering or a com-
plementary field.”
There are currently multiple 
graduate programs at the Uni-
versity of Michigan that will be 
offered through the GDP, includ-
ing programs in the College 
of Engineering, the School of 
Information and the Ross School 
of Business.
“Undergraduate 
students 
now can take advantage of some 
of the pathways, and we are 
working very quickly to build 
additional degree options with 
different international institu-
tions,” Conger said.
Along 
with 
the 
renewed 
agreement, a new building has 
been dedicated to the Joint 
Institute. The Long Bin Building 
in Shanghai is named after the 
parents of John Wu, a U-M alum 
who in 2015 donated $10 million 
to support the Joint Institute.
This building is home to all of 
the operations of the Joint Insti-
tute and is another step in its 
evolution.
“The building has many dif-
ferent discussion areas, lounges 
and laboratories for research,” 
Byrnes said. “It will be a huge 
center for student activity.”
University President Mark 
Schlissel expressed his support 
for the renewed agreement in an 
article published by the Univer-
sity Record.
“The Shanghai Jiao Tong Uni-
versity collaboration is U-M’s 
largest and most comprehensive 
partnership in China,” Schlissel 
said. “It has given hundreds of 
students from both our nations 
the opportunity to pursue excel-
lent academic programs and 
conduct research. We have also 
fostered more than a decade of 
research interactions among fac-
ulty. I am further excited by the 
possibilities as we extend and 
enhance our partnership.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

“The Joint 
Institute is a great 
way for people 
from very different 
cultures to get 
to know each 
other, understand 
the cultures and 
be able to work 
globally on global 
issues.”

University signs 
10-year agreement 
for Joint Institute