Draft legislation that would make significant changes to Michigan cannabis law is under review by that state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA), and has already gone through at least seven drafts of review, according to documents provided to Grown In.
[Download a draft of the legislation]
Although the legislation contains numerous legislative fixes for the MRA, the keystone of the legislation would be to merge the state’s medical and adult-use cannabis licenses into one license type, a move that would simplify application processes, but disadvantage municipalities that have only approved medical cannabis businesses and not recreational cannabis.
Michigan maintains two different tracks for medical and adult-use cannabis licenses, from seed-to-sale. As a result, once a cannabis seed is planted, it is in one track or the other until sale, or if a product sits unsold on a dispensary shelf for more than 30 days, it can be reassigned to the other track for sale. These two tracks impact supply and demand in the state, a pertinent issue for Michigan, since wholesale cannabis prices have recently hit $4,500 per pound, say dispensary owners.
Potentially, the draft legislation could be considered as early as next month. The Republican-controlled legislature was expected to meet today, but announced no meetings after numerous GOP members announced Covid diagnoses. After a two week traditional hunting break in November, the Michigan legislature is scheduled to meet for nine days over three weeks in December for a “lame duck” session, with legislators sworn in to office before the November 3 election.
