For what?

In case you didn’t read the title of this post, determining rules for regulating recreational marijuana sales in Michigan.

The group included medical marijuana businesses, lawyers, municipal representatives and interested individuals willing to give their feedback.

Attendees say that the officials didn’t cue them in on rules they were considering at this point. They simply wanted input.

Time Is of the Essence

Historically, LARA has been monumentally slow in matters of procedure. That’s not a dig. Just a fact.

But the attendees of the meeting felt that LARA was going to act swiftly and quickly – predicting the likelihood of seeing rules taking shape in the next three months.

And that’s good.

Because even though voters legalized recreational marijuana over five months ago, there can be no retail sales of it until the rules are in place.

The deadline, by state law, is this December. But the expectation is there will be drafts done by June.

The Rules for Regulating Recreational Marijuana in Michigan Are Crucial

Before any license applications can be accepted, the state needs to set these rules.

And for at least the first year of the adult-use (i.e. recreational) marijuana program, most licenses will likely be issued to businesses that already have a medical marijuana license.

What does that mean?

In a nutshell, it means that medical marijuana provisioning centers may also be able to sell to anyone over the age of 21. And how that’ll work is important to provisioning centers.

Many provisioning centers are adamant that they didn’t want to have a separate entrance way or counters for those using marijuana recreationally. Rather, they would prefer a point-of-sale system that would record whether the customer was a patient or a recreational user.

This is the sort of input that the officials at LARA need. And it’s not exclusive to the concerns of provisioning centers.

Concerns from Municipal Leaders

Municipal leaders are seeking guidance and clear interpretations of the law  from state officials. Especially when it comes to changing rules.

Cindy Berry is the elect clerk in Chesterfield Township. ”Overwhelmingly, all of the municipalities are looking for some kind of support for whatever we intend to implement at a local level,” she says. “We’re looking for support from the state to be able to have some teeth in that.”

Municipal leaders would also like for the state officials to back up local ordinances and to see the implementation of objective licensing programs.

“We would like to see rules that help us in that process and allow us to have similar zoning for both types,” says Adrian City Attorney Tamaris Henagan. “And we also wanted to impart on the state that we need strong partnerships with municipalities — not that the state has not assisted us, but there’s differences or maybe a lack of communication between the state and the municipalities as we’ve all been through this process for the past year or so.”

In addition, some communities have concerns if adult-use marijuana sales are too highly regulated, it will lead marijuana businesses to fail and, in turn, leave empty storefronts in their community.

Looking At New Rules for Testing

Of course, processors have concerns as well. And of late, proposed testing laws have made things even dicier.

Ben Rosman of PSI Labs would like to be able to hire someone to their staff that has some serious technical chemistry chops. He’d also like the to see the state add some more acceptable pesticides, as well as regularly meet with testing labs to determine what’s working and what’s not working.

Now the rules only seem to change when lobbying is involved.

“A lot of that (change) has come from us nudging and pushing and lobbying,” Rosman says. “I started this coalition of testing labs. A big part of that is so we would have a unified voice in pushing them harder.”

There Is Much to Determine

State officials have their work cut out for them. And hopefully they will learn from the mistakes other states made in this process.

As a cannabis business owner, you can only offer your input and hope that state officials are listening. But what you DO have control over is your marketing strategy.

So while you’re waiting for the state to establish rules for regulating recreational marijuana sales in Michigan, contact us to ensure that your marketing is up to snuff.

Make the transition easy on yourself.

The post Regulating Recreational Marijuana Sales in Michigan appeared first on GROW Cannabis Marketing.

It’s been something that rhymes with flustermuck.

So Whitmer put pen to paper on Friday to sign an executive order that could making things go a bit more smoothly.

Because even “a bit more smoothly” would be a vast improvement over the current state of affairs.

Why Has Marijuana Licensing Been So Tough?

That would take the sort of political analysis for which we simply don’t have the chops.

But here it is in a nutshell:

The marijuana licensing board under LARA was created in 2016 to regulate and tax the medical marijuana market. Its five members were politically appointed by former Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-Grand Haven, former Speaker of the House Tom Leonard, R-Dewitt and Gov. Rick Snyder.

All Republicans.

Meekhof went ahead and recommended a former Speaker of the House who was also a Republican, as well as a registered lobbyist. This same guy had also been involved in negotiating the sale of his stake in the lobbying firm to a lobbyist for the medical marijuana industry.

This, of course, raised concerns about whether lobbyists would seek to then curry favor with him through the price paid for the stake in the firm.

In the meantime, Leonard nominated an executive board member of the Police Officers Association of Michigan – which only may connote “marijuana supporter.” It certainly doesn’t scream it.

And our old buddy Snyder figured a pharmacist, the CEO of a consulting firm, and a retired sergeant for the Michigan State Police would be just dreamy as his appointees.

We’re not suggesting that every member of the volunteer five member board is power hungry in their denying applicants licenses. But there were certainly a lot of inconsistencies.

For instance, a minor brush with the law 25 years ago could be grounds for an applicant not getting a license. Even if the charges were dismissed.

And it shouldn’t come as any big surprise that the retired police sergeant has been particularly stringent. He consistently denies people seeking licenses who are registered caregivers.

These caregivers were permitted to grow up to 72 plants for five medical marijuana cardholders. They are supposed to be able to recoup the costs of growing these plants. But the sergeant feels that many of them are profiting beyond those expenses and should therefore be ruled out for getting a license.

The result is that these caregivers who have been the mainstay of the medical marijuana market since 2008 are suddenly unable to get licenses.

What Does Whitmer Propose?

Right now, the number of licensed growers is pretty limited. And since crops take up to six months to grow, licensed dispensaries are justifiably concerned about an impending shortage of product for their patients.

As a result, the state is currently permitting around 60 unlicensed dispensaries to continue to operate. This has been an ongoing game for many months. The dispensaries now have until March 31st to get a license or shut down.

Through her executive order, Whitmer is proposing that a new entity within the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs handle all licensing for both medical and recreational marijuana licensing. It would be called the Marijuana Regulatory Agency. She feels certain that combining the licensing authority under one body will put the kibosh on some of the inefficiencies.

“To avoid licensing delays and to better coordinate varying sources of authority for the enforcement of state law, the administration of state laws relating to marijuana can more effectively and efficiently be administered by a dedicated state agency,” she said in her executive order. In turn, the needs of Michigan’s medical marijuana patients will be better met.

The retired police sergeant feels Whitmer’s order is political payback for marijuana industry lobbyists who supported her campaign. He also lamented that, “Public safety just took a huge hit.”

But Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton sees things in a different light. He feels that the new system allows for more predictability. And this will ultimately enhance public safety and keep communities safe.

If the Legislature doesn’t veto the order, Whitmer is expected to appoint a director to run the agency in the coming weeks.

More Efficient Days Ahead?

We can only hope that the Legislature will see the benefits of increasing the efficiency of marijuana licensing.

In the meantime, if you’d like to see increased efficiency in the marketing and promoting of your cannabis business, contact us. We’ll get you moving in the right direction.

And nobody can veto that.

The post Whitmer Signs Executive Order in Effort to Streamline Marijuana Licensing appeared first on GROW Cannabis Marketing.