Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

The past week has been a hectic one in the City of Detroit when it involves Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act issues. The City application deadline for presently running facilities was February 15. The Wayne County Circuit Court's Chief Judge, Robert Colombo, Jr. issued a ruling pertaining to the voter initiatives and dispensary zoning requirements. Ultimately, the City issued a postponement on applications and approvals for new medical marijuana provisioning centers within the City of Detroit.

Detroit MMFLA Deadline Comes and Goes: If you were a medical marijuana dispensary proprietor as well as you got on the City's accepted operating list, you were required to send your application to the State of Michigan Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs by February 15, 2018. That application also needed to be submitted with the City of Detroit for municipal attestation of operating approval by that date too. If you did not get your application in by February 15, 2018, whether or not you got on the accepted list, as well as no matter whether you have actually been running with City approval, your license with the City will certainly not be renewed. Neither will your present municipal license to run be renewed. In short, if you didn't get your application in by February 15, 2018, you're out of luck after the expiry of your present license, at least, within the limits of the City of Detroit, for at a minimum of six months, until the moratorium is passed. Even then, there's no guarantee that you will be able to apply, or be approved, once the moratorium is over. All the more reason to ask about the regulations and rules with a medical cannabis licensing attorney who understands the intricacies of this ever-changing and also complex area of legislation.

Moratorium on New Provisioning Centers:

Detroit has placed a six month moratorium on applications for Medical Marijuana provisioning center licenses as of February 15. The City has specified that it will not provide any type of brand-new dispensary licenses during that 6 month period. Much more significantly, for provisioning centers that were running under a municipal license or under a legal arrangement with the City that they would not close your center down, if you did not submit your State Application for a dispensary license, as well as send your application to the City of Detroit for an attestation by close of business on February 15, 2018, you will not be authorized to run, and also your currently issued and valid license to operate in the City, will certainly not be restored. Companies that did not get their applications in by the target date will certainly need to wait until at least after the moratorium is over before they can attempt to re-apply. There has been a lot of discussion that the City might not release any more licenses after that moratorium is passed, which it would certainly be within its rights to do. Consequently, if you didn't get your application in before the due date, you must talk with a medical cannabis licensing attorney to discuss your options progressing.

Circuit Court Strikes Down Zoning Initiative:

The final news regards the voter initiatives that were passed in November which changed the zoning requirements for provisioning centers. Citizens authorized a reduction in the zoning constraints relating to medical marijuana provisioning centers. The ordinance required that a dispensary had to be at least 1000 feet away from a church or school. The initiatives proposed to lower the zoning requirements to ensure that dispensaries only needed to be less than 500 feet away from a church or school. The City of Detroit challenged the legality of the voter initiatives and submitted a suit in the Wayne County Circuit Court. On Friday, Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. determined that under the Home Rule statute, which governs how cities like Detroit are run and governed in the State of Michigan, zoning restrictions and requirements could not be changed by voter initiative. Because of this, the initiatives were struck down and also the original zoning limits are once more in place. While a number of citizen teams are vowing an appeal, it will be time before the Court of Appeals and, eventually, the Michigan Supreme Court can evaluate in on the concern. The zoning statute, if it continues to be the same, will likely additionally influence brand-new kinds of Medical Cannabis Facilities approved for licensing under the MMFLA.

Exactly how Does This Effect My Application?: If you are a dispensary operating lawfully in Detroit now, as well as you sent your application to the State and also the City by February 15, 2018, after that, these changes will have little to no influence on you. Anyone running a facility in Detroit who did not apply by the due date, or who is running illegally and is not on the Detroit approved facilities' listing, the decision could be devastating. You might not be able to operate your center after the end of the year, or sooner, depending upon the nature of your center. If you are not on the authorized list, you will certainly not have the ability to get city authorization to run, which is a condition precedent to getting your State license. Consequently, you will not be able to get an operating license from the State, and your unregulated facility is likely to come to be a target of State regulators. If you were running lawfully, yet did not get your application in to the City or the State by February 15, 2018, you will certainly not be municipally approved to continue running past your current licensing date. There is likewise no warranty that you will certainly have the ability to submit an application after the present six month moratorium, nor is there any kind of reason to believe that the City will approve anymore applications for provisioning centers. If your need is to continue supplying patients with medicine, you require to speak with a well-informed medical cannabis licensing lawyer to aid you create a plan on just how you can try to continue in the market.

If you wish to talk about getting a license under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act,

be it a dispensaries, processing center, grow operation, testing laboratory or secured transporter,

call Fowler & Williams, PLC today for an appointment.