Unlike other states who have joined the bandwagon of legalizing recreational marijuana, Michigan will be one of the only states that will lower taxes for those who grow and smoke marijuana (if the vote is yes this coming November).
There are currently nine states plus Washington D.C that have legalized recreational marijuana and Michigan will hopefully become the tenth this coming November. Other than the universal regulations such as “pot smokers and buyers must be at least 21 in age,” Michigan has conjured up some more unique regulations. These new regulations will include an increased amount of how much marijuana one person can possess along with others.
While all nine legalized states have maximized the amount a person can have at one ounce, Michigan will increase that amount to two ounces. This limit was chosen, according to Josh Hovey, spokesperson of the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA), explained that the limit was chosen to adhere with the limitations of purchasing for medical marijuana. The current limit of purchase for medical marijuana is 2.5 ounces at a time. Hovey stated, “The legislature did a thorough job in creating a medical marijuana licensing system,” he continued, “we wanted to make sure there wasn’t a lot of confusion.”
Recreational growers in all of the legalized states have permitted users to grow up to 3 plants in some states and 6 plants in which has been the standard limit thus far. Michigan, on the other hand, is planning on breaking away from those standards and will be allowing growers to grow up to 12 plants.
Lower taxes is also a huge initiative for marijuana smokers and growers with Michigan only having a 10% excise tax while in other states it has been common for the tax to be as high as 37%. In the hopes of massive revenue, legislature is planning for the best instead of planning for the worst. Michigan legislature has had to plan for the worst with a lot of things when it has come to Michigan, but it seems as though that the Marijuana business is making legislature turn over a new leaf due to how successful the medical marijuana business already is.
In the hopes of Michigan being the next state to legalize recreational marijuana, it is very smart that legislature is trying to make the transition as smooth and user friendly as possible as well as appealing to business owners and marijuana enthusiasts.