Applying for one of the five new medical marijuana licenses when new guidelines take effect in mid December promises to be a rigorous process, lawyers say.
The state’s licensing framework is supposed to be in place by mid December, but there are no guidelines on the state’s medical marijuana website yet.
Attorneys say prospective applicants should expect a licensing process similar to those in other states with similar laws.
“I think it’s going to be more intense than people initially think,” said attorney Alex Leonowicz, with the Royal Oak firm Howard & Howard. “If you look at what other states have done, it’s really going to require individuals to think through the entire process.”
“You can equate it to a liquor license, or a gaming license,” Leonowicz said. “They’re very serious about this process.”
Michigan lawmakers approved a regulatory and licensing framework for medical marijuana in September 2016 – nearly eight years after voters approved a statewide referendum allowing medical marijuana.
Since then, interpreting the voter referendum has largely been left to courts following criminal prosecutions of people who believed they complied with Michigan law when they opened dispensaries.
Though there are no state guidelines posted for the new licensing system yet, final approval of applicants for licenses will involve requiring local community approval in order for a state license to be issued.
“It’s like a two-step process,” Leonowicz said. “You’ll need a green light at local level. They want everything mapped out. On the other side, very few municipalities have given any indication that they’re going to opt in.”
Jason Moon, at the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, said the state’s goal is to begin issueing issuing licenses in the first part of 2018.
“Our goal is to make a licensing checklist available this fall, the items needed for licensure,” he said. “Our goal is to make the actual licenses issued in the first quarter of 2018.
“The state will approve a facility’s license application on case by case basis and will not set a limit on the number of licenses,” Moon said. “A facility must be located in a municipality that has an ordinance authorizing that type of facility before being approved by the state. A local municipality may place a limit on the number of licenses authorized.”
Since its legalization in Michigan for medical use, and in other states for medical and recreational use, marijuana has become big business and expected to grow. It’s also been a boon for state tax revenues where it’s been legalized.
Leonowicz said licensing could potentially take several months followed by several months more to build a facility and more months to grow a marketable crop.
That, he said, could dovetail with efforts to put a proposal on the November 2018 ballot to legalize recreational marijuana.
“Before you know it, you could be producing for a market that’s recreational,” Leonowicz said.
