marijuana

A new report claims the number of people working in Michigan’s marijuana industry doubled over the past year.

It’s difficult to put a firm number on Michigan pot employment since no government agency or industry group is tracking it.

But Seattle-based cannabis industry website Leafly is out with its fifth annual national jobs estimate. The report estimates nationally 321,000 people are working in the industry in states where medical, adult-use or both are legal.

The agency that oversees Michigan’s marijuana industry is recommending some changes that may open the industry up to more minority owners and investors.

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) says about 5% of Michigan’s recreational cannabis businesses are owned by African Americans or Latinos.

Tuesday, Michigan marks one year of legal retail sales of recreational marijuana.

Approved by voters in 2018, retail sales had to wait until state officials built a regulatory system to manage the fledgling industry.

Since retail sales began Dec. 1, 2019, weekly sales numbers for adult use products have climbed steadily. In the past 12 months, retailers have sold roughly $450 million-worth of recreational pot products in the state, averaging about $13 million a week in recent months. 

Tuesday, family and supporters asked state officials to parole a Flint man who’s serving a potentially life sentence because of a 1990s marijuana conviction.

Michael Thompson was sentenced as a habitual offender after his conviction of selling three pounds of marijuana in 1994, his prison sentence exacerbated by his possession of firearms. 

Michigan’s largest city is taking its first step toward opening recreational marijuana shops.

Detroit officials unveiled a proposed ordinance Monday that would allow entrepreneurs to apply for retail, grower, processing, and other cannabis business licenses. The proposed ordinance would reserve half of the licenses to Detroiters.

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As of Wednesday, caregiver products have been phased out of Michigan’s regulated retail marijuana market.

When Michigan voters approved medical marijuana in 2008, provisions were made for individuals to serve as “caregivers,” people who could grow cannabis for patients who could not grow it themselves.

Michigan’s recreational marijuana industry has reached another milestone.

Nearly seven full months into 2020, Michigan’s adult-use cannabis industry has sold more than $200 million in recreational marijuana products.

Michigan’s recreational marijuana industry last week surpassed $100 million in total sales since the retail industry became legal last December.    

Recently, state regulators expanded a program to help people with marijuana convictions get a foothold in Michigan’s legal cannabis industry.

Michigan’s recreational marijuana industry has seen sales soar in recent weeks.

Last week (5/4-5/10), Michiganders shelled out $7,913,328 on recreational cannabis products.  That’s the biggest sales week in the adult use industry’s brief history in the state.

Michigan’s recreational marijuana industry is maintaining, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown.

Customers are still showing up at Michigan’s recreational marijuana retail outlets.

Adult-use sales spiked to $5.7 million the week before the governor issued the stay-home order.

State regulators are phasing out cannabis products coming from medical marijuana caregivers from Michigan’s retail market.

Caregivers are legally allowed to grow 72 marijuana plants. The state has allowed caregivers to sell their excess cannabis to the retail market. As recently as January, caregivers provided nearly two-thirds of the marijuana flower available on store shelves.

But the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) is giving the industry until this fall to stock its own shelves.

A group of more than a dozen marijuana dispensaries claim the state of Michigan violated the law by rejecting their licensing applications.

The dispensaries are trying to sell recreational marijuana in Detroit and Traverse City, but both cities have a temporary ban in place.

A Lansing man who owned and operated dispensaries throughout Michigan was sentenced to fifteen years and eight months in prison.

CBD, the non-psychoactive compound of marijuana, is becoming popular for people and pets alike. You can find CBD oil in cookies, gummies, teas, lotions, and, yes, pet treats. These products claim to treat stress, anxiety, pain, and more — although research on the subject is still undecided.

But if you were to go to a veterinarian in Michigan and ask about the possible benefits or side effects of marijuana for your pet, they legally could not discuss it with you.

2019 has been a challenging year for Michigan farmers, and weather has only been part of the problem.

Tariff disputes and unsettled trade deals have disrupted international markets for Michigan’s agri-business. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the new trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico in January. Also, China is proposing cutting tariffs in preparation for a partial deal in its trade dispute with the U.S. 

Michigan medical marijuana patients are being cautioned to expect further product shortages in the new year.

The medical marijuana market has struggled with shortages in the past. The start of the recreational retail market has exacerbated the issue.

For the first time, last-minute holiday shoppers in Michigan may have something new to go under the tree: legally purchased recreational marijuana.

A new University of Michigan study reports a significant spike in the number of adolescents vaping marijuana.

The U of M Monitoring the Future study has been tracking teenage drug use for 45 years.

State regulators have recalled their first marijuana products containing a problematic additive.

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency put emergency rules into place banning Vitamin E acetate in cannabis vaping products.  

Vitamin E acetate has been linked to a deadly vaping-related lung damage outbreak. State and federal health officials have traced about half of more than 2,300 cases of severe lung damage to vaping marijuana products containing Vitamin E acetate.  More than 50 people have died, including two people in Michigan. 

The head of Michigan’s marijuana regulatory agency says the new recreational retail market is off to a “normal shakeout”.

In the first eight days since the retail market became legal, Michigan’s handful of recreational marijuana stores sold more than $1.6 million worth of cannabis products. 

But not everyone in Michigan’s marijuana industry is happy.

Michigan’s recreational marijuana retail market is set to open this weekend. But a new study says state cannabis education programs might want to focus on an unexpected group: parents.

The study finds parental marijuana use is associated with increased risk of marijuana and tobacco use, and opioid misuse by children.

An Ann Arbor business is the first to get a state recreational marijuana license.

More licenses are expected to be handed out before retail sales begin December 1st.

State marijuana regulators handed the first licenses of growing, processing and dispensing recreational marijuana to the owners of Exclusive Brands LLC.

In a little more than two weeks, Michigan will formally join the list of states where an adult can legally buy marijuana for recreational purposes. 

But most Michigan cities and towns are saying “no” to the retail market.

Michigan voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana use by a wide margin 12 months ago.  

Michigan’s recreational marijuana market is set to open next year.

People seeking help expunging their records of misdemeanor marijuana convictions can get that help at a special event in Detroit Saturday.

The Expungement Fair runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kemeny Recreation Center, 2260 S Fort St. in Detroit.

The state of Michigan will start accepting applications from businesses seeking recreational marijuana licenses Friday, November 1.

But retail sales may still be a long way off. 

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