Isis Simpson-Mersha of MLive said on April 16 the Bay City Commission held a meeting where two marijuana licensing applications were on the agenda. She said one of the applications was sent back to the city staff for further investigation and the other was approved.

Simpson-Mersha said the approved application is for a provisioning center, located in a former Long John Silver’s restaurant, at 710 Livingston St., Bay City, Michigan.

Cannabis Compliance and Licensing Attorney Paula Givens said the location on Livingston Street is being described as a “high-end retail medical cannabis business.”

“Our proposed location will be a more pharmaceutical style to honor the medicine,” said Givens.

Scottie Denha, one of the owners of this provisioning center, said the facility is expected to bring in 15-20 jobs. Denha said the owners decided to start their business in Bay City because it was one of the first cities in Michigan to opt into the Medical Marijuana Act.

Bay City has been allowed 25 provisioning centers and this is the first to be approved.

The owners said they are investing $500,000 dollars into the center and plan to completely re-do the building to make it feel brand new.

Denha said there’s a chance they could be in operation by the end of the year.

As for the other application, Commissioner Ed Clements said it wasn’t approved because their building was listed for sale on a website called Michigan Cannabis Brokers of Michigan.

“Something doesn’t add up,” said Clements.

He said seeing their building up for sale was a big red flag, so they are further investigating the application.

The post First Approved Licensing Application in Bay City appeared first on GROW Cannabis Marketing.

She said one application was for the owner of GreenTransport Services Michael Densmore. He wanted to receive a license to be a secure transporter of medical cannabis to other cannabis businesses. After reviewing his application and performing a background check, the board discovered a 20-year-old misdemeanor Densmore failed to disclose.

“I’ve had a gun permit continuously since 1999,” said Densmore. “I’ve got a liquor license, a DNR license, a lottery license. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I had no idea there was anything out there like this. We’ll address it and take care of it.”

Gray said the other application belonged to the owner of TJM Enterprises Tim McGraw who wanted to open a dispensary. After performing a background check on McGraw, the board discovered he had a possession of marijuana charge on his record and did not approve his license.

Gray said the applications aren’t completely denied with no chance of approval. McGraw and Densmore are expected to appear at the next board meeting in April for reconsideration of their applications. Retired Michigan State Police Officer and current Licensing Board Member Don Bailey said he believes their applications should be disqualified.

“It’s the omission that’s troubling to me,” said Bailey.

Along with this, Board Member for Michigan NORML Rick Thomspon said it’s a bit discouraging that the board only considered two applications during their meeting since they only meet nine times a year, but he believes the board will begin accomplishing some substantial work.

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