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Law Michigan MMJ
- Thread starter momofthegoons
- Start date
I thought that maybe you, in particular, might enjoy it. Glad you did.
Well they're placing their bets and forecasting success.... I dunno..... I'm not all that thrilled with the recreational market that's about to hit Michigan. It's not that I don't think cannabis should be available to everyone...obviously! It's that the more corporations and the government control this plant the less likely it will be that we, as patients, will be taken seriously. And... there's that whole money grab thing.
Study: Michigan's recreational marijuana market may outpace Colorado's
Medical-grade marijuana at The Reef in Detroit. - STEVE NEAVLING
Michigan’s legal marijuana market is poised to become one of the strongest the country and could outpace Colorado in sales, according to a new study.
By early next year, the state’s first recreational marijuana dispensaries are expected to open. With strong sales in the medical cannabis market, Michigan’s recreational market is expected to grow three-fold between 2020 and 2023, with annual sales reaching $650 million, according to “Crossing the Mississippi: U.S. Cannabis Market Report 2019” by Brightfield Group, which examines the budding marijuana industry.
That’s good news for cash-strapped local governments and the state because a 10 percent excise tax will be imposed on all recreational sales. Under the law, the extra revenue must be used on roads, schools, and local governments.
Nationwide, sales in the legal cannabis industry are expected to more than double by 2023, from $11 billion this year to $22.7 billion in four years.
“The majority of growth will be driven by recreational sales, particularly from newly-opened, fast-growing states in the Midwest and on the East Coast,” Brightfield Group researchers wrote.
While western states have dominated the market nationally, five states east of the Mississippi will become major forces in the young marijuana industry. Those states — Michigan, Massachusetts New Jersey, and New York — are expected to make up 11 percent of the market this year. By 2023, their market share is expected to grow to 34 percent.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 10 states and Washington D.C. The study estimates 16 states will permit recreational sales by 2023.
According to a Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency report, the excise and sales taxes on recreational marijuana in Michigan are expected to generate $77.1 million in the 2019-20 fiscal year. In four years, the agency projected the tax revenue will exceed $260 million.
Study: Michigan's recreational marijuana market may outpace Colorado's
Medical-grade marijuana at The Reef in Detroit. - STEVE NEAVLING
Michigan’s legal marijuana market is poised to become one of the strongest the country and could outpace Colorado in sales, according to a new study.
By early next year, the state’s first recreational marijuana dispensaries are expected to open. With strong sales in the medical cannabis market, Michigan’s recreational market is expected to grow three-fold between 2020 and 2023, with annual sales reaching $650 million, according to “Crossing the Mississippi: U.S. Cannabis Market Report 2019” by Brightfield Group, which examines the budding marijuana industry.
That’s good news for cash-strapped local governments and the state because a 10 percent excise tax will be imposed on all recreational sales. Under the law, the extra revenue must be used on roads, schools, and local governments.
Nationwide, sales in the legal cannabis industry are expected to more than double by 2023, from $11 billion this year to $22.7 billion in four years.
“The majority of growth will be driven by recreational sales, particularly from newly-opened, fast-growing states in the Midwest and on the East Coast,” Brightfield Group researchers wrote.
While western states have dominated the market nationally, five states east of the Mississippi will become major forces in the young marijuana industry. Those states — Michigan, Massachusetts New Jersey, and New York — are expected to make up 11 percent of the market this year. By 2023, their market share is expected to grow to 34 percent.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 10 states and Washington D.C. The study estimates 16 states will permit recreational sales by 2023.
According to a Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency report, the excise and sales taxes on recreational marijuana in Michigan are expected to generate $77.1 million in the 2019-20 fiscal year. In four years, the agency projected the tax revenue will exceed $260 million.
mudshark
Vaporist
My first voting opportunity as a young adult was to help vote in the Ann Arbor $5 pot law; I was then a student at the University of Michigan and remember that the voting booth was set up in our dorm cafeteria.
Shredder
Dogs like me
Back then I thought legalization was just around the corner.
@momofthegoons
I have no idea how things will turn out. I think we really won't know until recreational is here.
Im concerned there will be a push to get rid of caregivers but maybe after recreational they'll forget us.
And if the state gets more realistic with the regs, the price could come down. I'd love that, I could take a vacation.
Where can I buy marijuana in Lansing? Answers to your FAQs about cannabis licensing
LANSING — This week, the city began accepting its second round of applications from businesses vying for a license to sell medical marijuana in Lansing.
Using recreational marijuana is legal, too, but buying and selling the drug without a medical reason is not – at least not yet.
Confused? Here are answers to your questions about where you can (and can't) buy marijuana.
Which Lansing dispensaries have licenses?
To do business legally, medical marijuana facilities will ultimately need certification at both the local and state levels.
Two Lansing medical marijuana dispensaries, Cannaisseur and Homegrown Lansing, have cleared those hurdles and are fully licensed. (Remember, there is no such thing as a legal recreational pot shop in Michigan. Yet.)
Fully licensed dispensaries in Lansing:
Michigan's Marijuana Regulatory Agency gave its stamp of approval to those businesses on May 1. Both Pure Options and Old 27 Wellness still need to clear a final Lansing building inspection before they move from conditional to full local approval, Deputy City Clerk Brian Jackson said Wednesday.
Lansing dispensaries on a fast-track to full certification:
Borrello's ruling came in response to lawsuits from unlicensed dispensaries, whose owners took issue with what they described as the state's slow and convoluted process for granting licenses.
State regulators have since promised to deny or approve most pending dispensary applications by June 1, which would bring temporary operating facilities out of licensing limbo.
Temporary operating facilities (dispensaries allowed to operate without full licenses) in Lansing
Up to 25 dispensaries could eventually open in Lansing. City Council set that limit when it approved a medical marijuana ordinance in September 2017.
The ordinance empowers Lansing's city clerk to issue up to 20 licenses during an initial application round and up to five more licenses after that. Two of those applicants now have full licenses and 17 more have conditional approval from the city.
Lansing received 85 applications when it closed its first phase of dispensary licensing in December 2017.
Lansing opened its second application round Tuesday. Businesses have a 30-day window, until June 27, to apply for one of five available dispensary license slots.
Are there other ways to get medical marijuana?
Michigan voters first made it legal to use medical marijuana in 2008, but local officials have the authority to ban or limit the businesses that sell the drug within their communities.
Patients are not required to buy from a dispensary, however. Patients can grow cannabis themselves or get it from a caregiver.
Michigan first began certifying caregivers, who may grow up to 12 plants per patient, in 2009.
If patients want to purchase medical marijuana legally — whether that's from a caregiver or a dispensary — they need to obtain a physician's approval and then apply for a state-issued medical marijuana card. Here's a step-by-step guide to applying for a medical marijuana card in Michigan.
Recreational marijuana is legal for adults in Michigan to grow and to use, but it's not legal to buy or sell until the state rolls out it business licensing structure.
How does Lansing decide which businesses to approve?
The city's clerk's office uses a rating system based on factors including an applicant's business plan, tax history, security plan and efforts to limit noise, odor and traffic.
Lansing has updated its scoring criteria for phase two of dispensary applications. The city now gives more points to businesses that are located farther away from other provisioning centers.
"This will help ensure access to medication for those Lansing residents who have transportation issues," City Clerk Chris Swope said.
Additionally, Lansing will give greater weight to a dispensary's economic impact and commitment to providing benefits and higher-wage jobs, Swope said.
It costs $5,000 to apply for a city license and $5,000 more to renew a license yearly. Rejected applicants get a $2,500 refund.
Licensed marijuana entrepreneurs need significant financial backing. Each applicant must have at net worth of at least $100,000, per Lansing's ordinance.
What about other types of medical marijuana businesses?
Lansing allows other types of medical cannabis facilities, including growers, processors, transporters and safety-compliance labs, but dispensaries have proven to be the most controversial.
Lansing's ordinance doesn't set a cap on the number of licenses that can be granted to businesses other than dispensaries, and applications for those facilities are accepted on a rolling basis with no set deadline.
Some things you need to know about legalized recreational marijuana in Michigan. Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Isn't recreational weed already legal?
Yes. Recreational marijuana use became legal in Michigan for adults 21 and older on Dec. 6, 2018.
It's not legal to sell marijuana for recreational purposes, however, because the state has yet to implement its licensing system for recreational businesses.
Nonetheless, Michigan's new law allows adults to use, possess and grow small amounts of marijuana and adults can gift — but not sell — that weed to other people.
When will recreational pot shops open?
A date hasn't been set, but recreational pot shops may not open until 2020.
State regulators have until December 2019 to begin drafting rules, although officials say they are on track to beat that deadline by publicizing the rules sometime in June 2019.
Officials could begin accepting business applications in October 2019, said David Harns, a spokesman for Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. After that, the state has 90 days to grant its first licenses.
Local leaders have the authority to ban or limit recreational businesses within their communities, but it appears likely that Lansing will open its doors to all types of cannabis facilities.
Established medical marijuana businesses will have on an inside track on the recreational market, since state rules are likely to favor places that already have medical licenses.
LANSING — This week, the city began accepting its second round of applications from businesses vying for a license to sell medical marijuana in Lansing.
Using recreational marijuana is legal, too, but buying and selling the drug without a medical reason is not – at least not yet.
Confused? Here are answers to your questions about where you can (and can't) buy marijuana.
Which Lansing dispensaries have licenses?
To do business legally, medical marijuana facilities will ultimately need certification at both the local and state levels.
Two Lansing medical marijuana dispensaries, Cannaisseur and Homegrown Lansing, have cleared those hurdles and are fully licensed. (Remember, there is no such thing as a legal recreational pot shop in Michigan. Yet.)
Fully licensed dispensaries in Lansing:
- Cannaisseur, 3100 N. East St.
- Homegrown Lansing, 5025 S Pennsylvania Ave.
Michigan's Marijuana Regulatory Agency gave its stamp of approval to those businesses on May 1. Both Pure Options and Old 27 Wellness still need to clear a final Lansing building inspection before they move from conditional to full local approval, Deputy City Clerk Brian Jackson said Wednesday.
Lansing dispensaries on a fast-track to full certification:
- Pure Options, 5815 S. Pennsylvania Ave.
- Old 27 Wellness, 2905 N. East St.
Borrello's ruling came in response to lawsuits from unlicensed dispensaries, whose owners took issue with what they described as the state's slow and convoluted process for granting licenses.
State regulators have since promised to deny or approve most pending dispensary applications by June 1, which would bring temporary operating facilities out of licensing limbo.
Temporary operating facilities (dispensaries allowed to operate without full licenses) in Lansing
- Cornerstone Wellness, 3316 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
- Edgewood Wellness Llc, 134 E. Edgewood Blvd.
- Superior Wellness, 2617 E. Michigan Ave.
- Superior Wellness II, 2829 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
- Stateside Wellness, 1900 E. Kalamazoo St.
- Altum Provisions, 5829 Executive Dr., Suite A
- Apex Ultra LLC, 2101 W. Willow St. Suite A
- First Class Inc., 2519 N. Grand River Ave.
- Green Square, 7045 S. Cedar St., Suite 4
Up to 25 dispensaries could eventually open in Lansing. City Council set that limit when it approved a medical marijuana ordinance in September 2017.
The ordinance empowers Lansing's city clerk to issue up to 20 licenses during an initial application round and up to five more licenses after that. Two of those applicants now have full licenses and 17 more have conditional approval from the city.
Lansing received 85 applications when it closed its first phase of dispensary licensing in December 2017.
Lansing opened its second application round Tuesday. Businesses have a 30-day window, until June 27, to apply for one of five available dispensary license slots.
Are there other ways to get medical marijuana?
Michigan voters first made it legal to use medical marijuana in 2008, but local officials have the authority to ban or limit the businesses that sell the drug within their communities.
Patients are not required to buy from a dispensary, however. Patients can grow cannabis themselves or get it from a caregiver.
Michigan first began certifying caregivers, who may grow up to 12 plants per patient, in 2009.
If patients want to purchase medical marijuana legally — whether that's from a caregiver or a dispensary — they need to obtain a physician's approval and then apply for a state-issued medical marijuana card. Here's a step-by-step guide to applying for a medical marijuana card in Michigan.
Recreational marijuana is legal for adults in Michigan to grow and to use, but it's not legal to buy or sell until the state rolls out it business licensing structure.
How does Lansing decide which businesses to approve?
The city's clerk's office uses a rating system based on factors including an applicant's business plan, tax history, security plan and efforts to limit noise, odor and traffic.
Lansing has updated its scoring criteria for phase two of dispensary applications. The city now gives more points to businesses that are located farther away from other provisioning centers.
"This will help ensure access to medication for those Lansing residents who have transportation issues," City Clerk Chris Swope said.
Additionally, Lansing will give greater weight to a dispensary's economic impact and commitment to providing benefits and higher-wage jobs, Swope said.
It costs $5,000 to apply for a city license and $5,000 more to renew a license yearly. Rejected applicants get a $2,500 refund.
Licensed marijuana entrepreneurs need significant financial backing. Each applicant must have at net worth of at least $100,000, per Lansing's ordinance.
What about other types of medical marijuana businesses?
Lansing allows other types of medical cannabis facilities, including growers, processors, transporters and safety-compliance labs, but dispensaries have proven to be the most controversial.
Lansing's ordinance doesn't set a cap on the number of licenses that can be granted to businesses other than dispensaries, and applications for those facilities are accepted on a rolling basis with no set deadline.
Some things you need to know about legalized recreational marijuana in Michigan. Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Isn't recreational weed already legal?
Yes. Recreational marijuana use became legal in Michigan for adults 21 and older on Dec. 6, 2018.
It's not legal to sell marijuana for recreational purposes, however, because the state has yet to implement its licensing system for recreational businesses.
Nonetheless, Michigan's new law allows adults to use, possess and grow small amounts of marijuana and adults can gift — but not sell — that weed to other people.
When will recreational pot shops open?
A date hasn't been set, but recreational pot shops may not open until 2020.
State regulators have until December 2019 to begin drafting rules, although officials say they are on track to beat that deadline by publicizing the rules sometime in June 2019.
Officials could begin accepting business applications in October 2019, said David Harns, a spokesman for Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. After that, the state has 90 days to grant its first licenses.
Local leaders have the authority to ban or limit recreational businesses within their communities, but it appears likely that Lansing will open its doors to all types of cannabis facilities.
Established medical marijuana businesses will have on an inside track on the recreational market, since state rules are likely to favor places that already have medical licenses.
And with all the above said...... 
Shredder
Dogs like me
Good one, lol!
Michigan’s legal medical marijuana market remains dominated by illegal product
Jake May | MLive.com
Employees work to harvest marijuana plants Feb. 13, 2019, at Green Peak Industries Research and Development Facility, located at 1669 Jolly Road in Lansing. (Jake May | MLive.com)
After six months of regulated medical marijuana sales in Michigan, the market remains overwhelmingly dominated by an illegal source of product.
Seven percent of the flower sold by licensed provisioning centers in the last six months has been grown by licensed businesses, according to data from the state’s tracking system obtained by MLive. The rest -- 25,106 pounds worth -- has been grown by caregivers.
Officials say this is a part of the growing pains of the new industry.
“It’s seven percent of a market where it was zero percent six months ago,” said Andrew Brisbo, executive director of the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency, to MLive. “The movement of consumers to utilizing licensed provisioning centers is taking place as well. We’re making this eventual progression toward the regulated market.”
Overall, the licensed market has made more than $56 million in sales since its start in mid-October 2018 through the end of March, according to the agency’s quarterly report. There are now 82 licensed provisioning centers and 54 large-scale grow licenses serving a population of 288,908 medical marijuana patients in Michigan.
Officials have allowed marijuana grown by the state’s 40,596 registered caregivers to supplement the beginning of the regulated market -- though there is no legal mechanism that allows them to do so. The Marijuana Regulatory Agency has only promised provisioning centers that it won’t take action against them for buying from caregivers.
“The idea that they’re supplementing it -- that’s not what’s happening,” said Jason Pasko, chief operating officer of High Life Farms in Chesaning. “They’re dominating the marketplace.”
Sales data from the state’s tracking system shows caregiver marijuana has suffocated sales of marijuana grown by licensed growers over the past six months, due in part to policy changes and legal uncertainty.
During the first full month of regulated sales, licensed growers supplied two percent of all of the medical marijuana flower sold in the state. That market share has fluctuated over the past six months. As of the end of April, it sits at 3.3 percent.
Licensed growers were able to make gains in January, when caregiver marijuana was not allowed to be sold by licensed shops during a two-week period in which the regulatory approach shifted from the outgoing Republican administration to the incoming Democratic administration.
During that time marijuana flower from licensed growers accounted for 22 percent of all flower sales. The price of marijuana flower also increased in January as well.
“Provisioning centers are willing to engage in the licensed market when the regulations are being followed," said Joe Neller, executive vice president of government affairs for the state’s largest licensed grower, Green Peak Industries. “And it’s much easier for them to go direct to caregivers when the state has allowed that to happen.”
Licensed businesses are battling for control of the market, as their state-mandated business costs -- like testing, safety inspections and licensing fees -- are passed down to the consumer in the cost of their product. Caregivers, operating with no oversight, offer a less expensive product.
To provisioning center owners, caregivers are also offering a higher-quality product.
“Do you pay double for a product that the has half the quality, or do you pay half the price for a better quality product?” said Jerry Millen, owner of Greenhouse, a medical shop in Walled Lake.
Since caregivers were allowed back into the market in mid-January through a licensing board resolution backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, their marijuana flower has dominated sales. The flower market has grown every month, but licensed growers continue to have a smaller and smaller fraction of it.
That’s due in part to uncertainty brought by legal challenges. The wholesale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops was supposed to end April 1 -- but a flurry of lawsuits prompted Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello to issue a temporary restraining order.
Brisbo said provisioning centers stockpiled caregiver marijuana in March before the deadline hit -- and continued to do so in April as the industry awaited a final decision from Borrello. As a result of Borrello’s April 30 ruling, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency ended the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops May 2.
“Some of the uncertainty with regard to the court orders and what was permissible as to caregiver products and temporary operation has let a lot of the licensed operators to take a measured and slower approach to fully engaging in the market,” Brisbo said. “Hopefully with some certainty moving forward we’ll see some more normalized practices.”
Caregivers are still allowed to sell into the regulated market, by taking their flower to licensed growers and processors. Brisbo said this was necessary due to the low market share for licensed growers.
Whether that practice will take root remains to be seen. Many in the industry are skeptical.
“No caregiver wants to show up to a licensed grower or processor with five pounds of product that they grew because technically under the law that’s illegal,” Neller said. “I absolutely have empathy for them because they’ve been on the front lines of moving the industry forward.”
The 2008 law that legalized medical marijuana allows caregivers to supply up to five patients with their medicine, but does not allow them to sell their overages to anyone else. State officials have encouraged caregivers to sell to licensed businesses, outside the bounds of the law.
“Caregivers have worked in the pseudo gray market for so many years,” Millen said. “Why would they take a chance with $50,000 worth of product to be handled by people they don’t know, when if it doesn’t pass testing it has to be destroyed? Most of these guys are involved in the black market -- they don’t trust the police or the government.”
Rick Thompson, a board member of the Michigan chapter of NORML, said patients will turn to the black market to find caregiver products once they are no longer sold at licensed shops.
“In the cannabis world, price is king,” Thompson said. “The Michigan Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act ramps up the cost of cannabis to the point where it’s not competitive with what’s available with what’s on the alternative market in Michigan.”
In the mean time, regulators in Brisbo’s agency are closely watching the state’s tracking system. They’re trying to determine at what point the licensed industry will be growing enough marijuana to supply both the market for infused products and for flower without the help of caregiver marijuana.
In the beginning of May, there were 5,266 pounds of marijuana flower grown by licensed growers available for wholesale and in provisioning centers, officials said.
As a comparison, 5,727 pounds of flower was sold on the legal market in April -- three percent of which was grown by licensed growers.
“The legal market will be able to supply all of the medical patients, all of the people that need this product -- you just have to let it run its course,” Pasko said.
Jake May | MLive.com
Employees work to harvest marijuana plants Feb. 13, 2019, at Green Peak Industries Research and Development Facility, located at 1669 Jolly Road in Lansing. (Jake May | MLive.com)
After six months of regulated medical marijuana sales in Michigan, the market remains overwhelmingly dominated by an illegal source of product.
Seven percent of the flower sold by licensed provisioning centers in the last six months has been grown by licensed businesses, according to data from the state’s tracking system obtained by MLive. The rest -- 25,106 pounds worth -- has been grown by caregivers.
Officials say this is a part of the growing pains of the new industry.
“It’s seven percent of a market where it was zero percent six months ago,” said Andrew Brisbo, executive director of the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency, to MLive. “The movement of consumers to utilizing licensed provisioning centers is taking place as well. We’re making this eventual progression toward the regulated market.”
Overall, the licensed market has made more than $56 million in sales since its start in mid-October 2018 through the end of March, according to the agency’s quarterly report. There are now 82 licensed provisioning centers and 54 large-scale grow licenses serving a population of 288,908 medical marijuana patients in Michigan.
Officials have allowed marijuana grown by the state’s 40,596 registered caregivers to supplement the beginning of the regulated market -- though there is no legal mechanism that allows them to do so. The Marijuana Regulatory Agency has only promised provisioning centers that it won’t take action against them for buying from caregivers.
“The idea that they’re supplementing it -- that’s not what’s happening,” said Jason Pasko, chief operating officer of High Life Farms in Chesaning. “They’re dominating the marketplace.”
Sales data from the state’s tracking system shows caregiver marijuana has suffocated sales of marijuana grown by licensed growers over the past six months, due in part to policy changes and legal uncertainty.
During the first full month of regulated sales, licensed growers supplied two percent of all of the medical marijuana flower sold in the state. That market share has fluctuated over the past six months. As of the end of April, it sits at 3.3 percent.
Licensed growers were able to make gains in January, when caregiver marijuana was not allowed to be sold by licensed shops during a two-week period in which the regulatory approach shifted from the outgoing Republican administration to the incoming Democratic administration.
During that time marijuana flower from licensed growers accounted for 22 percent of all flower sales. The price of marijuana flower also increased in January as well.
“Provisioning centers are willing to engage in the licensed market when the regulations are being followed," said Joe Neller, executive vice president of government affairs for the state’s largest licensed grower, Green Peak Industries. “And it’s much easier for them to go direct to caregivers when the state has allowed that to happen.”
Licensed businesses are battling for control of the market, as their state-mandated business costs -- like testing, safety inspections and licensing fees -- are passed down to the consumer in the cost of their product. Caregivers, operating with no oversight, offer a less expensive product.
To provisioning center owners, caregivers are also offering a higher-quality product.
“Do you pay double for a product that the has half the quality, or do you pay half the price for a better quality product?” said Jerry Millen, owner of Greenhouse, a medical shop in Walled Lake.
Since caregivers were allowed back into the market in mid-January through a licensing board resolution backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, their marijuana flower has dominated sales. The flower market has grown every month, but licensed growers continue to have a smaller and smaller fraction of it.
That’s due in part to uncertainty brought by legal challenges. The wholesale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops was supposed to end April 1 -- but a flurry of lawsuits prompted Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello to issue a temporary restraining order.
Brisbo said provisioning centers stockpiled caregiver marijuana in March before the deadline hit -- and continued to do so in April as the industry awaited a final decision from Borrello. As a result of Borrello’s April 30 ruling, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency ended the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops May 2.
“Some of the uncertainty with regard to the court orders and what was permissible as to caregiver products and temporary operation has let a lot of the licensed operators to take a measured and slower approach to fully engaging in the market,” Brisbo said. “Hopefully with some certainty moving forward we’ll see some more normalized practices.”
Caregivers are still allowed to sell into the regulated market, by taking their flower to licensed growers and processors. Brisbo said this was necessary due to the low market share for licensed growers.
Whether that practice will take root remains to be seen. Many in the industry are skeptical.
“No caregiver wants to show up to a licensed grower or processor with five pounds of product that they grew because technically under the law that’s illegal,” Neller said. “I absolutely have empathy for them because they’ve been on the front lines of moving the industry forward.”
The 2008 law that legalized medical marijuana allows caregivers to supply up to five patients with their medicine, but does not allow them to sell their overages to anyone else. State officials have encouraged caregivers to sell to licensed businesses, outside the bounds of the law.
“Caregivers have worked in the pseudo gray market for so many years,” Millen said. “Why would they take a chance with $50,000 worth of product to be handled by people they don’t know, when if it doesn’t pass testing it has to be destroyed? Most of these guys are involved in the black market -- they don’t trust the police or the government.”
Rick Thompson, a board member of the Michigan chapter of NORML, said patients will turn to the black market to find caregiver products once they are no longer sold at licensed shops.
“In the cannabis world, price is king,” Thompson said. “The Michigan Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act ramps up the cost of cannabis to the point where it’s not competitive with what’s available with what’s on the alternative market in Michigan.”
In the mean time, regulators in Brisbo’s agency are closely watching the state’s tracking system. They’re trying to determine at what point the licensed industry will be growing enough marijuana to supply both the market for infused products and for flower without the help of caregiver marijuana.
In the beginning of May, there were 5,266 pounds of marijuana flower grown by licensed growers available for wholesale and in provisioning centers, officials said.
As a comparison, 5,727 pounds of flower was sold on the legal market in April -- three percent of which was grown by licensed growers.
“The legal market will be able to supply all of the medical patients, all of the people that need this product -- you just have to let it run its course,” Pasko said.
Gov. Whitmer promised to expunge marijuana-related criminal records in Michigan. Those convicted are still waiting.
Gov. Whitmer promised to expunge pot-related criminal records after legalization. Those convicted are still waiting.
More than six months after voters legalized recreational marijuana in Michigan, more than 10,000 residents who have been convicted of minor pot-related offenses in the past decade still have no recourse to clear their criminal records.
An additional 3,500 Michigan residents are still behind bars or on probation for felony marijuana offenses, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Of the 10 states that permit recreational marijuana, Michigan and Alaska are the only ones that have not created a path to expungement for conduct that is now legal. With even a minor marijuana conviction on their records, residents often face difficulty getting jobs, loans, housing, education, and public assistance.
Alaska's House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would seal low-level pot convictions to make it easier for offenders to get jobs. The legislation is awaiting Senate approval.
A day after Michigan voters elected Gretchen Whitmer as governor and approved a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in November, Whitmer pledged to take "action early next year" to begin clearing minor pot-related convictions from residents' criminal records. She also pledged to use her office's power to pardon some of the thousands of people still behind bars for pot-related offenses that are now legal or just a civil infraction.
"For conduct that would now be legal, no one should bear a lifelong record for that conduct," the Democrat said at her first press conference as governor-elect.
But since then, Michigan is no closer to clearing criminal records for conduct that is now legal.
In November, Michigan lawmakers introduced two bills designed to expunge pot-related offenses and make it easier for inmates to be pardoned and released from jail. But without a hearing or any action since, those bills have all but died, and about half of the lawmakers who introduced the legislation are no longer in office because of term limits.
Whitmer's office told the Metro Times that the governor "is open to discussing this issue with her legislative partners," but those conversations have yet to lead to active legislation.
"Governor Whitmer does not have the legal authority to unilaterally expunge marijuana convictions, but is open to discussing this issue with her legislative partners to ensure that residents do not bear a lifelong record for conduct that would now be legal at the state level," Whitmer's spokeswoman Tiffany Brown tells Metro Times.
The state's inaction has frustrated pot offenders and advocates for social justice reform, especially since Whitmer ran on a pro-legalization platform.
"Something needs to be done immediately," says Barton Morris, an attorney and leading advocate for expunging pot-related offenses and pardoning people who are in jail for offenses that are now civil infractions. "There are people currently serving probation, jail, and prison sentences for nonviolent marijuana-related convictions. Every day that goes by is another strike of injustice to them, especially ones serving sentences for offenses for marijuana-related conduct that is permitted today."
One of Morris' clients — Rudi Gammo, a husband and father of three young children — was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 after opening a city-sanctioned medical cannabis dispensary in Detroit. Gammo was accused of running a "criminal enterprise" because he allowed people to grow marijuana out of homes he owned in Oakland County for the dispensary. He was doing nothing different than dozens of other dispensaries, but Oakland County law enforcement has been notoriously anti-marijuana since Michigan legalized medicinal marijuana in 2008. During his first year in prison, Gammo was housed with rapists and other violent offenders.
Gammo's children — ages 4, 5, and 16 — are so traumatized by their father's imprisonment that they are getting therapy. Gammo earned most of the money for his family, so now they're struggling to get by.
"He's sad and depressed," his wife, Vida, tells the Metro Times. "He feels like there's nothing he can do. And he has such a big heart. I need my husband around."
Colorado, Vermont, and Washington are pardoning people who are in jail for pot-related offenses. Communities such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, San Joaquin, and Los Angeles County are doing the same.
So far, no Michigan communities have followed suit.
The war on drugs has disproportionately targeted African-Americans and Latinos, even though studies show white people smoke pot at the same rate.
"We may not be able to erase all of the damage that the war on drugs has unleashed on marginalized communities," says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "But it is critical that we give all individuals with low-level misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions a clean slate and a chance to take care of their families free from the barriers to re-entry that they may otherwise face."
Of the 10 states with legalized recreational cannabis, Michigan is one of the only ones to ban pot offenders from running dispensaries and grow operations. Expunging pot-related offenses would "give them opportunities to get involved in the business aspect of this system," says Matt Abel, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Few people know the marijuana industry as well as Chad Morrow, who won awards for the compassionate care he provided at his now-shuttered medical marijuana dispensary in Gaylord. Like more than 100 dispensary owners statewide in early 2016, he was a pioneer operating in a gray area of a law that did not specify whether cannabis shops were legal. While cities such as Detroit and Ann Arbor permitted dispensaries to stay open, police in Gaylord did not and raided Morrow's shop, which he said only sold cannabis products to state-sanctioned medical marijuana cardholders, many of whom were older and had no other way of getting their medicine.
Morrow was sentenced to 1o months in jail on two felony counts of delivery and manufacturing of marijuana.
"I had never been in trouble for marijuana in my life until I put an 'open' sign on my door to help people," Morrow, 39, says. "I didn't know I was doing anything illegal. If I broke the law, it was for helping people get access to their medicine."
With felonies on his record, Morrow has had trouble finding a job. His dream, he said, is to get back in the legal marijuana industry.
"The best feeling I've ever had was helping people when they came in the dispensary," Morrow says.
Gov. Whitmer promised to expunge pot-related criminal records after legalization. Those convicted are still waiting.
More than six months after voters legalized recreational marijuana in Michigan, more than 10,000 residents who have been convicted of minor pot-related offenses in the past decade still have no recourse to clear their criminal records.
An additional 3,500 Michigan residents are still behind bars or on probation for felony marijuana offenses, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Of the 10 states that permit recreational marijuana, Michigan and Alaska are the only ones that have not created a path to expungement for conduct that is now legal. With even a minor marijuana conviction on their records, residents often face difficulty getting jobs, loans, housing, education, and public assistance.
Alaska's House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would seal low-level pot convictions to make it easier for offenders to get jobs. The legislation is awaiting Senate approval.
A day after Michigan voters elected Gretchen Whitmer as governor and approved a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in November, Whitmer pledged to take "action early next year" to begin clearing minor pot-related convictions from residents' criminal records. She also pledged to use her office's power to pardon some of the thousands of people still behind bars for pot-related offenses that are now legal or just a civil infraction.
"For conduct that would now be legal, no one should bear a lifelong record for that conduct," the Democrat said at her first press conference as governor-elect.
But since then, Michigan is no closer to clearing criminal records for conduct that is now legal.
In November, Michigan lawmakers introduced two bills designed to expunge pot-related offenses and make it easier for inmates to be pardoned and released from jail. But without a hearing or any action since, those bills have all but died, and about half of the lawmakers who introduced the legislation are no longer in office because of term limits.
Whitmer's office told the Metro Times that the governor "is open to discussing this issue with her legislative partners," but those conversations have yet to lead to active legislation.
"Governor Whitmer does not have the legal authority to unilaterally expunge marijuana convictions, but is open to discussing this issue with her legislative partners to ensure that residents do not bear a lifelong record for conduct that would now be legal at the state level," Whitmer's spokeswoman Tiffany Brown tells Metro Times.
The state's inaction has frustrated pot offenders and advocates for social justice reform, especially since Whitmer ran on a pro-legalization platform.
"Something needs to be done immediately," says Barton Morris, an attorney and leading advocate for expunging pot-related offenses and pardoning people who are in jail for offenses that are now civil infractions. "There are people currently serving probation, jail, and prison sentences for nonviolent marijuana-related convictions. Every day that goes by is another strike of injustice to them, especially ones serving sentences for offenses for marijuana-related conduct that is permitted today."
One of Morris' clients — Rudi Gammo, a husband and father of three young children — was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 after opening a city-sanctioned medical cannabis dispensary in Detroit. Gammo was accused of running a "criminal enterprise" because he allowed people to grow marijuana out of homes he owned in Oakland County for the dispensary. He was doing nothing different than dozens of other dispensaries, but Oakland County law enforcement has been notoriously anti-marijuana since Michigan legalized medicinal marijuana in 2008. During his first year in prison, Gammo was housed with rapists and other violent offenders.
Gammo's children — ages 4, 5, and 16 — are so traumatized by their father's imprisonment that they are getting therapy. Gammo earned most of the money for his family, so now they're struggling to get by.
"He's sad and depressed," his wife, Vida, tells the Metro Times. "He feels like there's nothing he can do. And he has such a big heart. I need my husband around."
Colorado, Vermont, and Washington are pardoning people who are in jail for pot-related offenses. Communities such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, San Joaquin, and Los Angeles County are doing the same.
So far, no Michigan communities have followed suit.
The war on drugs has disproportionately targeted African-Americans and Latinos, even though studies show white people smoke pot at the same rate.
"We may not be able to erase all of the damage that the war on drugs has unleashed on marginalized communities," says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "But it is critical that we give all individuals with low-level misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions a clean slate and a chance to take care of their families free from the barriers to re-entry that they may otherwise face."
Of the 10 states with legalized recreational cannabis, Michigan is one of the only ones to ban pot offenders from running dispensaries and grow operations. Expunging pot-related offenses would "give them opportunities to get involved in the business aspect of this system," says Matt Abel, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Few people know the marijuana industry as well as Chad Morrow, who won awards for the compassionate care he provided at his now-shuttered medical marijuana dispensary in Gaylord. Like more than 100 dispensary owners statewide in early 2016, he was a pioneer operating in a gray area of a law that did not specify whether cannabis shops were legal. While cities such as Detroit and Ann Arbor permitted dispensaries to stay open, police in Gaylord did not and raided Morrow's shop, which he said only sold cannabis products to state-sanctioned medical marijuana cardholders, many of whom were older and had no other way of getting their medicine.
Morrow was sentenced to 1o months in jail on two felony counts of delivery and manufacturing of marijuana.
"I had never been in trouble for marijuana in my life until I put an 'open' sign on my door to help people," Morrow, 39, says. "I didn't know I was doing anything illegal. If I broke the law, it was for helping people get access to their medicine."
With felonies on his record, Morrow has had trouble finding a job. His dream, he said, is to get back in the legal marijuana industry.
"The best feeling I've ever had was helping people when they came in the dispensary," Morrow says.
Cancer patient sues Michigan over access to medical marijuana
Cancer patient Sherry Hoover, right, speaks at a press conference Wednesday, June 5, 2019, at The Office coffee shop in Royal Oak with her attorney, Michelle Donovan of Butzel Long, at left. Hoover is suing the state as a recent regulatory decision has left her without access to the medical marijuana oil she uses to treat the pain from her cancer treatments. (Amy Biolchini | MLive.com)
A Michigan woman with a rare form of cancer is taking state officials to federal court after she recently lost access to the medical marijuana oil she uses to treat her severe pain as a result of state regulatory action.
Lawyers for Sherry Hoover, a 57-year-old retired nurse from Rochester, filed a case in the U.S. Eastern District Court Wednesday, June 5, against the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
Department officials declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Hoover uses medical marijuana -- specifically Rick Simpson Oil -- to help her through her experimental treatments for the rare form of leukemia she has been battling since 2011.
However, Hoover hasn’t been able to get the medical oil she needs from her local provisioning center -- the Curing Corner in River Rouge -- for the past three weeks. It’s sent her body into a tailspin, she said.
“My whole system feels like my bones are being twisted,” Hoover said during a press conference Wednesday in Royal Oak. “If I get back on the medication, it takes all that away. I don’t want to go back to the Norco; the fentanyl.”
Hoover’s lawyer Michelle Donovan argues that’s due to a Medical Marihuana Licensing Board resolution that ended the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to provisioning centers. The resolution took effect in May as a result of a judge’s order.
Donovan said the state has violated Hoover’s due process rights, and is seeking a temporary restraining order on that resolution to temporarily reintroduce caregiver marijuana back into the regulated market until the end of the year.
The press conference included banners calling on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to help Hoover, though Whitmer was not named in the lawsuit. Whitmer has the executive authority to override the state agency regulations in question, and she used it early in her term in order to push LARA to expand patient access to medical marijuana. She later issued an executive order to abolish the Medical Marihuana Licensing Board.
Caregiver marijuana has accounted for 93 percent of all of the flower sold in the first six months of the regulated medical market, according to data obtained by MLive. Caregivers aren’t legally allowed to sell to provisioning centers, but state officials have repeatedly promised to not take disciplinary action against the businesses that buy their products.
Some provisioning centers, like the Curing Corner, are claiming that the licensed growers that they now have to source all of their inventory from aren’t yet producing the specialized oils that medical marijuana patients like Hoover need. Amy McKinnon-Glun, manager of the Curing Corner, said Wednesday she has found one licensed supplier of Rick Simpson Oil -- but the product has been undergoing lab testing for several weeks and hasn’t filled her order yet.
The rollout of regulations on Michigan’s medical marijuana market has been plagued by lawsuits, as attempts to enforce licensing deadlines have been successfully challenged in court.
Recently tied up in those lawsuits has been the ability of caregivers to continue to supplement the market.
The wholesale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops was supposed to end April 1. That date was also supposed to mark a deadline for about 50 unlicensed medical marijuana shops to shut their doors -- but a flurry of lawsuits prompted Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello to issue a temporary restraining order In late March.
Borrello issued a final ruling April 30, which barred the state from imposing any new licensing deadline and meant the end of the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops.
Regulators are allowing caregivers to sell their marijuana to licensed growers and processors, who must test it before selling it to shops. Critics say this practice isn’t likely to happen, as the black market may pose a more lucrative opportunity.
Cancer patient Sherry Hoover, right, speaks at a press conference Wednesday, June 5, 2019, at The Office coffee shop in Royal Oak with her attorney, Michelle Donovan of Butzel Long, at left. Hoover is suing the state as a recent regulatory decision has left her without access to the medical marijuana oil she uses to treat the pain from her cancer treatments. (Amy Biolchini | MLive.com)
A Michigan woman with a rare form of cancer is taking state officials to federal court after she recently lost access to the medical marijuana oil she uses to treat her severe pain as a result of state regulatory action.
Lawyers for Sherry Hoover, a 57-year-old retired nurse from Rochester, filed a case in the U.S. Eastern District Court Wednesday, June 5, against the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
Department officials declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Hoover uses medical marijuana -- specifically Rick Simpson Oil -- to help her through her experimental treatments for the rare form of leukemia she has been battling since 2011.
However, Hoover hasn’t been able to get the medical oil she needs from her local provisioning center -- the Curing Corner in River Rouge -- for the past three weeks. It’s sent her body into a tailspin, she said.
“My whole system feels like my bones are being twisted,” Hoover said during a press conference Wednesday in Royal Oak. “If I get back on the medication, it takes all that away. I don’t want to go back to the Norco; the fentanyl.”
Hoover’s lawyer Michelle Donovan argues that’s due to a Medical Marihuana Licensing Board resolution that ended the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to provisioning centers. The resolution took effect in May as a result of a judge’s order.
Donovan said the state has violated Hoover’s due process rights, and is seeking a temporary restraining order on that resolution to temporarily reintroduce caregiver marijuana back into the regulated market until the end of the year.
The press conference included banners calling on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to help Hoover, though Whitmer was not named in the lawsuit. Whitmer has the executive authority to override the state agency regulations in question, and she used it early in her term in order to push LARA to expand patient access to medical marijuana. She later issued an executive order to abolish the Medical Marihuana Licensing Board.
Caregiver marijuana has accounted for 93 percent of all of the flower sold in the first six months of the regulated medical market, according to data obtained by MLive. Caregivers aren’t legally allowed to sell to provisioning centers, but state officials have repeatedly promised to not take disciplinary action against the businesses that buy their products.
Some provisioning centers, like the Curing Corner, are claiming that the licensed growers that they now have to source all of their inventory from aren’t yet producing the specialized oils that medical marijuana patients like Hoover need. Amy McKinnon-Glun, manager of the Curing Corner, said Wednesday she has found one licensed supplier of Rick Simpson Oil -- but the product has been undergoing lab testing for several weeks and hasn’t filled her order yet.
The rollout of regulations on Michigan’s medical marijuana market has been plagued by lawsuits, as attempts to enforce licensing deadlines have been successfully challenged in court.
Recently tied up in those lawsuits has been the ability of caregivers to continue to supplement the market.
The wholesale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops was supposed to end April 1. That date was also supposed to mark a deadline for about 50 unlicensed medical marijuana shops to shut their doors -- but a flurry of lawsuits prompted Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello to issue a temporary restraining order In late March.
Borrello issued a final ruling April 30, which barred the state from imposing any new licensing deadline and meant the end of the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to licensed shops.
Regulators are allowing caregivers to sell their marijuana to licensed growers and processors, who must test it before selling it to shops. Critics say this practice isn’t likely to happen, as the black market may pose a more lucrative opportunity.
You can now go to High Times Cannabis Cup without a medical marijuana card
Whoa, wait a minute, we just realized something: You no longer need medical marijuana cards to get into the Cannabis Cup.
In previous years, High Times magazine's two-day marijuana festival required a medical card to enter. However, since this is the first Cannabis Cup season since Michiganders voted to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults in November, anyone over 21 can now attend. (Medical marijuana patients who are 18+ are welcome with their card.)
If you're new to marijuana, the Cannabis Cup is a great way to learn more about an industry that experts believe could be on track to outpace Colorado's, a state that legalized recreational adult-use of marijuana in 2012. There are booths with marijuana vendors who will sample their wares, panels, seminars, and the main event — the Cannabis Cup itself — which honors Michigan's best marijuana products, including strains, edibles, and cannabis-infused cuisine.
It's also an opportunity for the general public to consume marijuana before stores roll out. Even though recreational marijuana is legal, at the moment there's nowhere to buy it in Michigan other than provisioning centers, which require a medical marijuana card. It's legal for adults to gift another adult up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, and guests are allowed to bring their own marijuana to the event. (Officials say they expect stores to open early next year.)
The Cannabis Cup is also a legit hip-hop festival in its own right. This year's event in Clio features Busta Rhymes, Lil Skies, Too $hort, Prof, Trick Trick, Willy J Peso, and TNL, among others. It's held this Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9, at Auto City Speedway, 10205 N. Saginaw Rd., Clio, just north of Flint. Tickets start at $30.
A Detroit Cannabis Cup will also be held at the Russell Industrial Center on Saturday, Aug. 17, and Sunday, Aug. 18. Performers are TBA and tickets can be purchased here.
You can see a slideshow of photos from the 2018 Cannabis Cup here.
Whoa, wait a minute, we just realized something: You no longer need medical marijuana cards to get into the Cannabis Cup.
In previous years, High Times magazine's two-day marijuana festival required a medical card to enter. However, since this is the first Cannabis Cup season since Michiganders voted to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults in November, anyone over 21 can now attend. (Medical marijuana patients who are 18+ are welcome with their card.)
If you're new to marijuana, the Cannabis Cup is a great way to learn more about an industry that experts believe could be on track to outpace Colorado's, a state that legalized recreational adult-use of marijuana in 2012. There are booths with marijuana vendors who will sample their wares, panels, seminars, and the main event — the Cannabis Cup itself — which honors Michigan's best marijuana products, including strains, edibles, and cannabis-infused cuisine.
It's also an opportunity for the general public to consume marijuana before stores roll out. Even though recreational marijuana is legal, at the moment there's nowhere to buy it in Michigan other than provisioning centers, which require a medical marijuana card. It's legal for adults to gift another adult up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, and guests are allowed to bring their own marijuana to the event. (Officials say they expect stores to open early next year.)
The Cannabis Cup is also a legit hip-hop festival in its own right. This year's event in Clio features Busta Rhymes, Lil Skies, Too $hort, Prof, Trick Trick, Willy J Peso, and TNL, among others. It's held this Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9, at Auto City Speedway, 10205 N. Saginaw Rd., Clio, just north of Flint. Tickets start at $30.
A Detroit Cannabis Cup will also be held at the Russell Industrial Center on Saturday, Aug. 17, and Sunday, Aug. 18. Performers are TBA and tickets can be purchased here.
You can see a slideshow of photos from the 2018 Cannabis Cup here.
I did not attend, but heard that the lines getting in were ridiculous. Some never made it in the gate. Also heard there were tons of folk from out of state attending. And many of the vendors sold out the first day. Sorta glad to have missed it.
For those who wish they had attended, there will be an additional cup held in Detroit at the Russell Industrial Center, August 17 - 18.
Thousands flock to first High Times Cannabis Cup in Michigan since recreational marijuana legalized
VIENNA TWP, MI – The line of attendees to get into the Auto City Speedway in Vienna Township wounds its way down a long dirt driveway and along North Saginaw Road, but there were no races taking place.
Thousands filled the infield area and stands inside the facility, but there was no burning rubber being laid down on the track.
Instead, the smell of cannabis filled the air at the first High Times Cannabis Cup in Michigan after voters in November 2018 approved legalizing the use of recreational marijuana in the state for adults 21 and over.
The two-day event spanning Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9 drew in thousands of attendees that listened to musical acts including Busta Rhymes and Too Short, took in a variety of demonstrations, and perused dozens of vendors selling marijuana in all different forms – from edibles to pre-rolled joints, rosin, plants, and seeds.
Among those selling their wares included Mike Lansford, who sat underneath a rain-covered tent on Sunday afternoon at the Top Notch Terps booth.
He was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 1996 and turned to marijuana to help with the complications of the medical issue that impacts his immune system.
“That’s when I got into it,” said Lansford, of using marijuana. “It pretty much saves my life. It helps me eat, helps me sleep, helps me just all around, better motivation to do things.”
His business centers are solventless hash rosin.
“I don’t really like smoking the flower that much. I don’t really like rolling joints. “I don’t smoke cigarettes or anything like that,” said Lansford. “I make my flower into hash rosin. It only takes just little teeny dabs…That’s all I have to do. I have to hit it once or twice and I’m good…I can do that a couple times a day and it keeps me in line.”
The Millington resident saw no reason that marijuana shouldn’t be legal, even prior to the vote.
“I was hoping it would (be approved),” Lansford said. “It’s a plant. It saves lives.”
He theorized the sitgma around marijuana usage come from days gone by, with legalization inching forward state by state as officials are “figuring out ways to tax it and regulate it.”
“Why not? It’s what the people want,” said Lansford.
Rick Thompson, a board member of the Michigan chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Legalization), said the success of the Cannabis Cup event in Michigan is another indicator of how it was time for legalization in the state.
“I think a lot of the expectations that people have had for this industry are going to be woefully lacking,” he argued. “I see far more interest in this than anyone ever gave credit for.”
Thompson sees Michigan becoming a destination for others in the Midwest “whose states may be struggling with having legitimate cannabis laws” and those who’ve provided medical marijuana to patients moving into the recreational side.
Only Michigan medical marijuana business license holders can apply for recreational licenses to grow on a large scale, to operate provisioning centers and to process marijuana in the first two yearsunder the new law. Retail sales of recreational marijuana is expected to begin in 2020.
An October 2018 analysis released by the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency estimates tax revenue from recreational marijuana could bring in up to $287.9 million in new tax revenue in 2023 -- $105.6 million from sales tax and $182.3 million from excise tax.
Several vehicles in the grass parking area outside the speedway and in makeshift lots at some homes across the street featured license plates from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
As far as Michigan, Thompson said the legalization program is “moving at the proper pace.”
“We wanted it to be faster than the medical program, which it has been, but also at a deliberative level so they don’t have to keep changing the rules,” he said.
Thompson pointed out the administering of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act has led to issues for applicants as regulations kept adjusting that, in turn, produced a lack of confidence in the system.
“It also makes communities more hesitant to say yes to medical or legalized recreational marijuana laws, so we really need to have more organization, more confidence in the populace in order for more communities to say yes,” he said, with some improvement coming in administration of both sides now falling under the Marijuana Regulatory Agency through the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
With Michigan legalizing recreational marijuana, Thompson said the state has become “a bellwether” for others.
“In Illinois, their governor got elected saying I’m going to legalize cannabis right off the bat,” noted Thompson of J.B. Pritzker. “It was a real selling point for his candidacy and we’re seeing quite a change because just a few years ago saying yes to legalized cannabis was the death nell for anybody’s political career.”
Having attended the Hash Bash in Ann Arbor earlier this year and the Cannabis Cup this weekend as part of record crowds, Thompson said “Every time I turn around there’s another milestone that makes me excited for my role in helping to pass Proposal 1.”
“Recreational (marijuana) has really made it OK for the average Joe to get interested in this,” Thompson said. “I think the populace is really showing that this was something long overdue.”
For those who wish they had attended, there will be an additional cup held in Detroit at the Russell Industrial Center, August 17 - 18.
Thousands flock to first High Times Cannabis Cup in Michigan since recreational marijuana legalized
VIENNA TWP, MI – The line of attendees to get into the Auto City Speedway in Vienna Township wounds its way down a long dirt driveway and along North Saginaw Road, but there were no races taking place.
Thousands filled the infield area and stands inside the facility, but there was no burning rubber being laid down on the track.
Instead, the smell of cannabis filled the air at the first High Times Cannabis Cup in Michigan after voters in November 2018 approved legalizing the use of recreational marijuana in the state for adults 21 and over.
The two-day event spanning Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9 drew in thousands of attendees that listened to musical acts including Busta Rhymes and Too Short, took in a variety of demonstrations, and perused dozens of vendors selling marijuana in all different forms – from edibles to pre-rolled joints, rosin, plants, and seeds.
Among those selling their wares included Mike Lansford, who sat underneath a rain-covered tent on Sunday afternoon at the Top Notch Terps booth.
He was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 1996 and turned to marijuana to help with the complications of the medical issue that impacts his immune system.
“That’s when I got into it,” said Lansford, of using marijuana. “It pretty much saves my life. It helps me eat, helps me sleep, helps me just all around, better motivation to do things.”
His business centers are solventless hash rosin.
“I don’t really like smoking the flower that much. I don’t really like rolling joints. “I don’t smoke cigarettes or anything like that,” said Lansford. “I make my flower into hash rosin. It only takes just little teeny dabs…That’s all I have to do. I have to hit it once or twice and I’m good…I can do that a couple times a day and it keeps me in line.”
The Millington resident saw no reason that marijuana shouldn’t be legal, even prior to the vote.
“I was hoping it would (be approved),” Lansford said. “It’s a plant. It saves lives.”
He theorized the sitgma around marijuana usage come from days gone by, with legalization inching forward state by state as officials are “figuring out ways to tax it and regulate it.”
“Why not? It’s what the people want,” said Lansford.
Rick Thompson, a board member of the Michigan chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Legalization), said the success of the Cannabis Cup event in Michigan is another indicator of how it was time for legalization in the state.
“I think a lot of the expectations that people have had for this industry are going to be woefully lacking,” he argued. “I see far more interest in this than anyone ever gave credit for.”
Thompson sees Michigan becoming a destination for others in the Midwest “whose states may be struggling with having legitimate cannabis laws” and those who’ve provided medical marijuana to patients moving into the recreational side.
Only Michigan medical marijuana business license holders can apply for recreational licenses to grow on a large scale, to operate provisioning centers and to process marijuana in the first two yearsunder the new law. Retail sales of recreational marijuana is expected to begin in 2020.
An October 2018 analysis released by the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency estimates tax revenue from recreational marijuana could bring in up to $287.9 million in new tax revenue in 2023 -- $105.6 million from sales tax and $182.3 million from excise tax.
Several vehicles in the grass parking area outside the speedway and in makeshift lots at some homes across the street featured license plates from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
As far as Michigan, Thompson said the legalization program is “moving at the proper pace.”
“We wanted it to be faster than the medical program, which it has been, but also at a deliberative level so they don’t have to keep changing the rules,” he said.
Thompson pointed out the administering of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act has led to issues for applicants as regulations kept adjusting that, in turn, produced a lack of confidence in the system.
“It also makes communities more hesitant to say yes to medical or legalized recreational marijuana laws, so we really need to have more organization, more confidence in the populace in order for more communities to say yes,” he said, with some improvement coming in administration of both sides now falling under the Marijuana Regulatory Agency through the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
With Michigan legalizing recreational marijuana, Thompson said the state has become “a bellwether” for others.
“In Illinois, their governor got elected saying I’m going to legalize cannabis right off the bat,” noted Thompson of J.B. Pritzker. “It was a real selling point for his candidacy and we’re seeing quite a change because just a few years ago saying yes to legalized cannabis was the death nell for anybody’s political career.”
Having attended the Hash Bash in Ann Arbor earlier this year and the Cannabis Cup this weekend as part of record crowds, Thompson said “Every time I turn around there’s another milestone that makes me excited for my role in helping to pass Proposal 1.”
“Recreational (marijuana) has really made it OK for the average Joe to get interested in this,” Thompson said. “I think the populace is really showing that this was something long overdue.”
Shredder
Dogs like me
I think these events are 95% recreational. Disabled people that i know don't stand in long lines, travel out of state, or care about busta rhymes.
I really don't have a problem with them, but there not really for patients.
I agree. While it used to be patient only admission, it's almost like a trade show at this point.... and a place to 'see and be seen.'
I know one thing; there's no way in hell I would have stood in line for hours for anything there.
There's a short news clip in the article that couldn't be embedded. Follow link in title to view.
Lansing Township says "NO" to Recreational Marijuana Shops
Decision Could Be Reversed After The State Drafts Industry Rules
Lansing Twp, (Mich) WLNS - Lansing Township is deciding not to allow recreational marijuana shops to open in its community, for now.
Lansing Township Supervisor Dion'trae Hayes says the Board will hold off until the recreational marijuana industry is regulated.
"At this time the township doesn't have a framework for exactly how that would look here so rather than be forced to opt into it we wanted to be very deliberate about what that looks like for us
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is set to draft rules for the industry in June.
Lansing Township now joins over 400 communities in Michigan who have opted out of recreational marijuana dispensaries.
Lansing Township says "NO" to Recreational Marijuana Shops
Decision Could Be Reversed After The State Drafts Industry Rules
Lansing Twp, (Mich) WLNS - Lansing Township is deciding not to allow recreational marijuana shops to open in its community, for now.
Lansing Township Supervisor Dion'trae Hayes says the Board will hold off until the recreational marijuana industry is regulated.
"At this time the township doesn't have a framework for exactly how that would look here so rather than be forced to opt into it we wanted to be very deliberate about what that looks like for us
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is set to draft rules for the industry in June.
Lansing Township now joins over 400 communities in Michigan who have opted out of recreational marijuana dispensaries.
Mr Mellish
Well-Known Member
Things are beginning to get a little interesting...
https://wwmt.com/news/local/west-michigan-business-provides-marijuana-gifting-service-delivery
https://wwmt.com/news/local/west-michigan-business-provides-marijuana-gifting-service-delivery
Mr Mellish
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry to report that after two days of trying to setup a meeting to "donate" to their cause, it has been a stressful, miserable failure. It's probably fair to say that the article kicked their asses to a much higher level than they were prepared to deal with but they could not meet commitment after commitment and their communication skills were abysmal.
If you're sitting at home and have no complicating issues to getting a delivery, I'm sure they're fine. You won't get your delivery in the suggested 60-90 minutes but you will probably get it within a few days. Be warned, as of yesterday, pretty much their entire online catalog was completely wrong (don't know about flower, wasn't trying for that).
Somewhere between 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM yesterday I asked if they would deliver to public places, rather than to houses. I also asked if delivery could be pre-arranged. I got a positive response to both.
At noon, I requested a 6:30 PM meeting at a public location. They agreed. At 3:30 PM yesterday, I was confirmed for a time "around" 6:30 PM at the requested location. At 6:50 they texted that they were running a little behind but it would be within the hour. At 8:30 PM, I received a call that said it would be another 20-30 minutes before I could get the delivery. At that point, I was screwed, so I asked that they reschedule for this morning. The woman I spoke with assured me that she would get me on the morning schedule.
This morning at 8:00 AM, I texted them to confirm I was in the queue and asked that they schedule for delivery prior to 11:00 AM. At 9:15, they countered with 1:00 PM and said they weren't taking anymore orders until they cleared their backlog. 1:00 wasn't good for me but I thought I could pull it off if I changed the location to accommodate other errands.
They confirmed at 9:30. At 11:00 AM I asked for an update. They quickly replied I would get one soon. I replied at 12:20 when I hadn't heard anything.
At 3:50, they let me know that I was on the next run and would get an update "shortly." At 5:30 I warned them that my window was closing. No response. At 6:30 (24 hours after the original agreed upon meeting), I let them know that I would regretfully have to cancel my order because my window had closed and I didn't see another opportunity in the next few days. No response. At 8:00 PM, still no response.
I've been very cordial through this whole process and never said anything rude or threatening. My disappointment is tremendous after the incredible rush I got reading the article. At this point, I have to question whether or not there is anyone with prior retail business experience involved in the enterprise. I'm getting a serious Grasshopper vibe (I have two).
If you're sitting at home and have no complicating issues to getting a delivery, I'm sure they're fine. You won't get your delivery in the suggested 60-90 minutes but you will probably get it within a few days. Be warned, as of yesterday, pretty much their entire online catalog was completely wrong (don't know about flower, wasn't trying for that).
Somewhere between 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM yesterday I asked if they would deliver to public places, rather than to houses. I also asked if delivery could be pre-arranged. I got a positive response to both.
At noon, I requested a 6:30 PM meeting at a public location. They agreed. At 3:30 PM yesterday, I was confirmed for a time "around" 6:30 PM at the requested location. At 6:50 they texted that they were running a little behind but it would be within the hour. At 8:30 PM, I received a call that said it would be another 20-30 minutes before I could get the delivery. At that point, I was screwed, so I asked that they reschedule for this morning. The woman I spoke with assured me that she would get me on the morning schedule.
This morning at 8:00 AM, I texted them to confirm I was in the queue and asked that they schedule for delivery prior to 11:00 AM. At 9:15, they countered with 1:00 PM and said they weren't taking anymore orders until they cleared their backlog. 1:00 wasn't good for me but I thought I could pull it off if I changed the location to accommodate other errands.
They confirmed at 9:30. At 11:00 AM I asked for an update. They quickly replied I would get one soon. I replied at 12:20 when I hadn't heard anything.
At 3:50, they let me know that I was on the next run and would get an update "shortly." At 5:30 I warned them that my window was closing. No response. At 6:30 (24 hours after the original agreed upon meeting), I let them know that I would regretfully have to cancel my order because my window had closed and I didn't see another opportunity in the next few days. No response. At 8:00 PM, still no response.
I've been very cordial through this whole process and never said anything rude or threatening. My disappointment is tremendous after the incredible rush I got reading the article. At this point, I have to question whether or not there is anyone with prior retail business experience involved in the enterprise. I'm getting a serious Grasshopper vibe (I have two).
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