marijuana

State marijuana regulators hope to get emergency rules in place for Michigan’s recreational marijuana market this month.

Recreational marijuana use has been legal in Michigan since the passage of last year’s state ballot question. But recreational sales are still in limbo, as the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency works on the rules.  

Director Andrew Brisbo hopes to start taking applications for recreational cannabis businesses this fall.

Michigan’s attorney general is getting behind a push to change federal law to allow banks to do business with marijuana companies.

Even in states like Michigan, where marijuana is legal, marijuana remains a "cash" business.

Michigan’s medical marijuana dispensaries will no longer be able to buy and sell untested cannabis products from caregivers.

The new rules are actually old rules that the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency says it will enforce. That's following a court ruling earlier this week. 

It’s a new month and a new lease on life for dozens of unlicensed medical marijuana businesses in Michigan.

A Michigan Court of Claims judge sided with unlicensed cannabis businesses on Tuesday.  

In a sometimes scathing opinion, Judge Stephen Borrello slammed the state’s handling of applications from medical marijuana businesses.  

This Tuesday, the way Michigan regulates the marijuana industry will undergo a change.

On March 1st, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) signed executive order 2019-7. The order created the Marijuana Regulatory Agency, within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The agency will officially replace the Medical Marihuana Licensing Board this week.

Michigan’s licensed medical marijuana businesses are starting to push back against the state’s apparent willingness to allow unlicensed dispensaries to stay open.

They plan to rally at the state capitol on Wednesday.

For months, operators of dozens of unlicensed provisioning centers convinced state regulators to extend deadlines to require that they obtain a state license to operate. When the state set a firm March 31st deadline, the dispensaries convinced a Court of Claims judge to issue a stay. The judge is expected to issue a ruling this week which may allow the unlicensed centers to keep their doors open.

State lawmakers want to put in place a final deadline for medical marijuana facilities to get a license, or not be able to stay open.

A state House committee unanimously passed a bill Wednesday. It gives a June 1st deadline for facilities – and if they stay open without a license, the facility can’t get a license for a year.

Dozens of unlicensed medical marijuana provisioning centers can continue to operate as attorneys try to reach an agreement with the state.

Attorneys for the medical marijuana businesses and state regulators met behind closed doors at the Hall of Justice in Lansing for a couple hours Tuesday. But the two sides could not reach an agreement that could keep 50 provisioning centers open.

A state agency has issued its first official advice to help businesses that want to get into the marijuana business.

The first bulletin from the Michigan Bureau of Marijuana Regulation deals largely with cannabis oils and lotions that have little to no THC. The bureau says it’s not going to adopt rules on marijuana products that have miniscule amounts of the compound. 

Michigan should not establish a legal limit for the amount of THC that drivers are allowed to have in their blood, according to a recent report from the Impaired Driving Safety Commission.

THC is the chemical in marijuana that can make people feel high and otherwise affect behavior and mood.

The clock is ticking on dozens of unlicensed medical marijuana provisioning centers in Michigan.

Starting April 1, the state will direct those dispensaries to shut their doors.

Advocates are concerned that could mean medical marijuana patients will have trouble getting their medicine.

“We’re going to see a reduced access for medical marijuana patients because of the shuttering of some of those provisioning centers that are in the process of the licensing,” says Rick Thompson, with the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The head of Michigan’s marijuana program says he intends to watch and learn as the state figures out the rules for future sales of recreational marijuana.

Andrew Brisbo testified before a legislative committee on the future of marijuana in Michigan Wednesday. That’s after voters approved recreational marijuana use last fall.

Michigan’s medical marijuana businesses are once again facing a deadline to get a state license or be forced to close their doors.

State regulators are proposing Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Licensing Board give businesses until the end of this month to get their license to operate.   

Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs wants input on its rulemaking process for marijuana. The agency is setting up work groups to give suggestions on topics like licensing and allowing new facilities in communities.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order abolishing the Medical Marijuana Licensing Board.  It creates a new marijuana regulatory agency within the Department of Licensing and regulatory affairs. The functions of the licensing board will be taken over by that agency, and the board itself is abolished.

State regulators are projecting an $18.2 million sales tax windfall from sales of medical marijuana this fiscal year.

7,002 pounds of medical marijuana products have been sold since state monitoring began marijuana sales in October, tallying $33,367,841.

A company angling to be Michigan’s largest cannabis business harvested its first crop this week.

At Green Peak Innovations' south Lansing grow operation, hair-net wearing workers are spending this week harvesting 600 to 800 pounds of marijuana.

“We are bringing a tremendous amount of production to the market. And some of it's ready to go to the market in the next couple of weeks,” says CEO Jeff Radway.   

Radway says 50% of Michigan’s medical marijuana dispensaries have committed to carrying Green Peak’s Skymint brand. The company is also planning on opening 19 retail stores.