With key provisions within Proposition 1 taking effect on Thursday, Dec. 6, Michigan is now officially the tenth state to legalize recreational marijuana, almost 85 years to the day after the United States ended alcohol prohibition in 1933.<\/p>\n
While the ability to walk into a store and buy marijuana is likely 16 months or more away, adults 21 and older can now possess and transport up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, including up to 15 grams in the form of marijuana concentrate. They can also now cultivate up to 12 marijuana plants and possess up to 10 ounces of marijuana in their residence in addition to any grown there.<\/p>\n
Michigan<\/a>\u00a0is the ninth state to create a regulated marketplace. We reached out to Gov. Rick Snyder\u2019s office for comment on the eve of legal marijuana in Michigan, but they declined. Instead, the governor\u2019s office put us in touch with the\u00a0Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs<\/a>, which will\u00a0oversee the development of the state\u2019s regulatory structure.<\/p>\n \u201cTomorrow basically starts the clock ticking for us,\u201d LARA Communications Manager David Harns told Cannabis Now.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a year from tomorrow in order to have the rules in place and license application built and ready to go. [The way] everything looks at this point, we\u2019ll be able to meet that deadline of December 6th, 2019 to have business applications ready for prospective licensees,\u201d said Harns.<\/p>\n Now that they\u2019ve seen the cannabis industry develop\u00a0across the country<\/a>\u00a0in nine different incubators, many with similar rulemaking timelines to Michigan, we asked Harns how much they anticipated having to reinvent the wheel in Michigan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps a little bit to have states that have gone before us that we can learn from,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, the state of Michigan\u2019s law is its own unique piece of\u00a0legislation\u00a0that was passed by the voters.<\/a> So there are some things we have to work through and figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n Harns noted the department will have to talk to stakeholder groups and the incoming governor\u2019s administration to make sure everyone is moving forward in the same direction. \u201cBut that just takes time, that\u2019s all,\u201d Harns said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be difficult, it\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n Marijuana Policy Project<\/a>\u00a0Deputy Director Matthew Schweich, who served as campaign director for the Yes on 1 campaign, which saw 56 percent of Michigan voters back the winning effort last month, released a statement this week prior to the law taking effect.<\/p>\n \u201cMichigan is the first state in the Midwest where adults will no longer be punished for possessing or growing small amounts of marijuana,\u201d said Schweich. \u201cThis is a substance that is objectively less harmful than alcohol to the consumer and to society, and it\u2019s finally going to be treated that way. In addition to ending the needless arrest and prosecution of thousands of adult consumers, this will allow law enforcement officials to spend more of their time and attention on serious crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Schweich also noted Michigan\u2019s longtime progressive attitude around marijuana reform, especially given the fact that it lies in the heart of the Midwest, a part of the country that\u2019s been traditionally slow to get the ball rolling on the topic.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to marijuana policy in America, Michigan is ahead of the curve,\u201d said Schweich, \u201cIt will serve as a strong example for the many other states that are currently considering similar reforms. State officials are in the process of creating the region\u2019s first regulated marijuana market for adults, which will be the nail in the coffin for marijuana prohibition.\u201d<\/p>\n The nation\u2019s oldest marijuana reform organization, NORML, also weighed in on the law.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a great day for the state of Michigan,\u201d\u00a0NORML\u00a0<\/a><\/u>Executive Director Erik Altieri said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>. \u201cAnd, as the first Midwest state to legalize marijuana for adult use, a huge step forward in the nationwide fight to end the failed policy of\u00a0prohibition<\/a>\u00a0and incarceration and to replace it with a sensible system of legalization and regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, where do you hope to see legalization take root next and what are you doing to help make that happen?<\/p>\n The post It\u2019s Official: Michigan Adults Can Now Legally Possess Cannabis<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
With key provisions within Proposition 1 taking effect on Thursday, Dec. 6, Michigan is now officially the tenth state to legalize recreational marijuana, almost 85 years to the day after the United States ended alcohol prohibition in 1933. While the ability to walk into a store and buy marijuana isContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[363,50,4552,3728,292,179,5173,81,369,6662],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31169"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31170,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31169\/revisions\/31170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: It\u2019s Official: Michigan Adults Can Now Legally Possess Cannabis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"