Some 40 medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan were ordered to close last week, and state authorities said hundreds more would follow in the weeks to come. The dispensaries in question have been operating in what is widely called the \u201cgray market\u201d \u2014 falling through the gaping legal holes in Michigan\u2019s troubled medical marijuana program, but tolerated by the authorities. Now, the state government appears to be saying they cannot operate until those legal gaps are closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonnel from the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Division Enforcement Section accompanied by Michigan State Police troopers have begun physically serving cease and desist letter to marijuana businesses that are not in compliance with Emergency Rule 19,\u201d read a statement from David Harns, press representative for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulator Affairs, as reported by the Associated Press. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAny business<\/a> that didn\u2019t apply for a license by Feb. 15 isn\u2019t in compliance with the emergency rules that were set up,\u201d Harns added to the Detroit Free Press.<\/a> \u201cWe did 40 today all throughout the state and there will be hundreds more.\u201d<\/p>\n A part of the problem is that dispensaries need approval from both state and municipal authorities \u2014 and the local regulations in Detroit are being held up by litigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Detroit\u2019s 62 medical marijuana dispensaries had been set to close on Feb. 15 amid a legal challenge to two measures passed by the city\u2019s voters in November regarding the zoning of retail cannabis outlets. In January, the city announced a kind of reprieve, saying it would offer dispensary owners a chance to apply for permits anew by the February deadline. As the Free Press noted<\/a>, however, the deferment was temporary and set to expire on June 15, if the legal challenge has not been resolved by by then.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time we\u2019ve seen such headlines from Michigan in recent months. Dispensaries were originally set to close statewide by Dec. 15, the day that applications for\u00a0five categories<\/a>\u00a0of licenses (cultivation, processing, distribution, sales and safety compliance) became available. But medical marijuana cardholders \u2014 more than 272,000 statewide \u2014 feared being without access during the lapse between applications being submitted and licenses being issued. State authorities capitulated to this grassroots pressure<\/a> and extended the deadline in November. Gov. Rick Snyder signed temporary \u201cemergency rules\u201d to oversee the dispensaries in the meantime,\u00a0CBS Detroit noted<\/a> as the deadline was impending in December. The new deadline for state applications was set at Feb. 15, the same as that for the city of Detroit.<\/p>\n So there has been a sense of kicking the can down the road \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n Michigan passed a medical marijuana law in 2008, but the initial dispensary system subsequently established was struck down by the state Supreme Court\u00a0<\/a>in 2013. The court found that under proper interpretation of the\u00a0Michigan Medical Marihuana Act<\/a>, retail distribution of cannabis was not allowed. The\u00a0Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act<\/a>\u00a0was passed in 2016 to reboot the dispensary system, clarifying this ambiguous point in the 2008 law. But implementation of the new system has also been slow and contentious, leaving dispensaries in the legal \u201cgray zone.\u201d<\/p>\n The most recent controversy surrounds the two Detroit ballot measures that were passed in November, loosening restrictions on where dispensaries can operate in the city, which had been imposed by ordinance in 2015. Proponents of the ballot measures \u2014 chiefly in the group Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform \u2014argued that the zoning restrictions discriminated against the city\u2019s African American community. On Feb. 16, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge\u00a0slapped down<\/a>\u00a0the measures, finding that zoning cannot be enacted by voter initiative under Michigan law. But Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform is preparing an appeal \u2014 meaning that the matter could drag on for months, leaving dispensaries in legal limbo.<\/p>\n If Michigan can ever get this mess straightened out, the cannabis economy could potentially boom in the state that has long been a national symbol of post-industrial hard times and urban blight. The Free Press\u00a0reports<\/a> that there are 378 cannabis business licenses pending with state authorities, but still awaiting approval from municipal authorities. Another 117 pending state applications already have such local approval, and are good to go as soon as the new regulatory regime gets off the ground. Hopefully, that will happen later this year. But whether the outlets now being ordered closed will survive to win legitimacy under the new regime remains to be seen.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> do you think Michigan should shut down dispensaries?<\/p>\n The post Michigan Cracks Down On \u2018Gray Market\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Some 40 medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan were ordered to close last week, and state authorities said hundreds more would follow in the weeks to come. The dispensaries in question have been operating in what is widely called the \u201cgray market\u201d \u2014 falling through the gaping legal holes in Michigan\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,3728,139,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24624,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24623\/revisions\/24624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Michigan Cracks Down On \u2018Gray Market\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"