City Council members pushing back on cannabis billboards in Detroit

(CBS DETROIT) - A push is on to stop the inundation of cannabis billboards in Detroit.

CBS News Detroit learned that Detroit City Council member Angela Whitfield Calloway is pursuing legal action to prevent new signs from popping up downtown.

"It's taking over our city," Calloway said in a meeting last month. "You can't drive down the street or freeway without seeing this one cannabis company."

Calloway's remarks followed 9-year-old Kaydyn's public remarks to the council about the billboards he sees when he comes to visit his grandmother in Detroit.

"Every time I come, I see that sign and I'm worried kids will start to get interested because it says it's free," Kaydyn said.

Those remarks, and a distaste for the way some dispensaries do business, are something shared by one local dispensary owner.

"When you see billboards that have "free weed" or "get high," that hurts us," Jerry Millen told CBS News Detroit on Thursday.

Millen, who owns The Greenhouse in Walled Lake, understands the necessity of billboards. However, he takes issue with certain business owners he feels make all cannabis businesspeople "look like a bunch of jokers."

Millen said the cost to put one billboard up in Metro Detroit costs upwards of $6,000 a month, a staggering number he feels would bar anyone from using that avenue lightly.

"I want people to come to The Greenhouse and see if we can help them get some relief," Millen told CBS Detroit. "Everything we present is different. It's about community involvement and taking the cannabis business seriously. The jokers who aren't taking it serious, hurt us."