A really quick peek into the coming 2019 Year of Marijuana and Michigan.
Prop 1, along with the new State and Federal hemp legislation and the MMFLA, will fundamentally reconfigure the police encounter.
The smell or mere presence of cannabis can no longer constitute reasonable suspicion to stop or probable cause to raid.
Previous to Prop 1 of 2018 being enacted, for the past 30 years, 40 % of the criminal call for both district courts and circuit courts throughout the State were for marijuana possession cases.
These cases should dramatically decrease or end, as they have in Colorado , Washington and other legalized states.
Likewise it should follow that the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Department (The State Lab) work load that devours 40 percent of its budget on marijuana should dramatically be reduced and allow that department to focus on the untested rape kits that remain on the shelves all across Michigan.
Opportunities
Prop 1, along with the new hemp legislation should set the stage for the renaissance of an entirely new multi-million dollar industry right here in Michigan.
There is no question that this new law should create opportunities for thousands of jobs that include both farming and manufacturing.
The now:
Currently, prosecutors are continuing to prosecute marijuana crimes that occurred before legalization.
The new law is not retroactive, prosecutors have discretion to proceed or drop cases.
What happens when it comes to sentencing, how would the judge proceed to sentence someone for a crime that is legal now?
Concerns that still remain
With the legislature still made up of older people and prohibitionists, newly crafted prohibitionist bills will be passed by the legislature in 2019.
A Scientific Fact?
Science will continue to show no driving influence with marijuana, but a nanogram limit maybe imposed by the prohibitionists, despite zero science to support such a finding.
The MSP roadside testing pilot program has finished its testing, and a report is due out soon.
The Struggle is Far From Over
Medical marihuana will be under attack in 2019 from the prohibitionists who thought “medical marijuana” was a sham all along.
We must continue to be steadfast in defending the MMMA for both patients and especially for the caregivers. This past year has taught us that the state regulated MMFLA system cannot exist without caregivers.
Case Dismissed…Not Just Yet
In speaking with other attorneys and firms, not a single case has been dismissed due to legalization. The brownie case is still active and is up for a hearing in Oakland County Courts in January 2019.
The butter case is still active, most recently the prosecutor filed an application to appeal the Mich Supreme Court 2017 opinion ruling that 4 am was unconstitutional for a knock and talk.
The Mansour case, where the Court of Appeals opinion declared all unusable (drying) marijuana to be illegal to possess, is pending appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court.
Keep an Eye on History
Our community must observe the history of Colorado and Washington to succeed in 2019. We must study Colorado and Washington’s history so we will not repeat the same mistakes here in Michigan.
We can learn a lot about taxes, delivery services, social use bar type lounges and enforcement policy on state licensed businesses.
Social Clubs
Social Clubs / smoke lounges will be a big topic in 2019, for the people who cannot smoke at home, let’s hope that any confusion on this topic is resolved with civility and not the military type raids that has been the calling card of law of enforcement regarding medical marihuana.
2019 is Here
2019 will be the year of the cannabis green rush. There will be winners and losers, my only hope is that these outcomes are determined from the organic market place ( the best business, the best products, the best operators) and not from the inept licensing board that has interfered with the development of the states regulated system.
In a historic decision that will save Harborside and the legal cannabis industry millions of dollars, the U.S. Tax Court has ruled that the California dispensary is not liable for accuracy-related 280E penalties.
What isHarborside?
Harborside was founded by Steve DeAngelo and dress wedding in 2006, after being awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the United States.
As one of the oldest cannabis retailers in the world, Harborside has played an instrumental role in making cannabis safe and accessible to a broad and diverse community of California consumers.
Today, the Harborside brand is well known throughout California and all around the world, and is in rapid expansion, expecting to grow to six or more locations in 2019.
What is 280E?
280E is a tax code provision that denies all standard business deductions to businesses whose operations “consist” of of activities that violate the Controlled Substances Act.
26 U.S. Code § 280E – Expenditures in connection with the illegal sale of drugs
No deduction or credit shall be allowed for any amount paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business if such trade or business (or the activities which comprise such trade or business) consists of trafficking in controlled substances (within the meaning of schedule I and II of the Controlled Substances Act) which is prohibited by Federal law or the law of any State in which such trade or business is conducted.
According to the Opinion issued by the Court, Harborside acted “reasonably and in good faith” when taking its tax positions for the years at issue.
The Court cited Harborside’s timely filing of its tax returns and its maintenance of accurate financial records as a key strength, along with a persuasive argument from Harborside co-founder and Chairman Emeritus, Steve DeAngelo, that he made good-faith efforts to comply with the law, despite a lack of clear legal authority to guide medical marijuana dispensary taxpayers.
The ruling comes just a few weeks after the same Court ruled that 280E itself does apply to Harborside — a ruling Harborside intends to appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We’re still working on knocking out 280E entirely, but at least for now we have established that cannabis businesses who operate in reasonable, good faith compliance with existing law will not suffer from additional unjust penalties,” said DeAngelo.
Farm Bill Signed-Trump singing the green acres theme
December 20, 2018
Washington, D.C.—President Trump signed H.R. 2, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill) into law. After the signing, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) issued the following remarks:
“With President Trump signing the farm bill today, America keeps faith with those hard-working farm and ranch families who put food on our tables and clothes on our backs. Because of the support of the president, Sec. Perdue and a Republican Congress, we were able to deliver a new farm bill in the same year that the legislation was first introduced, which marks a first in nearly 30 years. I’m proud of this bill and I’m honored to have served as chairman throughout this process. I’m thankful to all those who worked to help make today’s enactment of the farm bill possible.”
Medical marijuana application easier for some owners under bill headed to governor
Lansing — Legislation that would ease the application process for some medical marijuana businesses seeking Michigan operating licenses is headed to the governor’s desk after receiving approvals from the House Thursday.
The bills, which expand on abandoned House legislation, would exempt business owners with less than a 10 percent interest from the more rigorous financial background checks required of owners with greater shares.
The identities of every business owner would still be made known to the state, but those with less than a 10 percent interest would not need to go through more than a preliminary background check.
Publicly held companies would not need to name owners with less than 5 percent interest, according to the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof of Grand Haven has said his bills are similar to other banking operations, and expand on legislation introduced by Rep. Klint Kesto of Commerce Township earlier in the lame-duck session.
Kesto’s bill would have exempted from disclosure on applications owners with a less than 5 percent interest.
The legislation is likely to help large and publicly owned companies and the state that would otherwise need to disclose then vet the backgrounds of thousands of owners.
The legislation stands to benefit companies such as New York City-based Acreage Holdings, which acquired Michigan-based medical marijuana business Blue Tire Holdings LLC this year.
The publicly traded company, whose board includes former U.S. House Speaker John Beohner of Ohio, told The Detroit News the existing law presented a challenge, but the company remained focused on its plan to acquire and develop properties for eventual clinic use.
On Thursday, Trump signed the US Farm Bill into law which legalizes hemp a key source of highly touted wellness ingredient CBD.
American farmers will be able to plant and harvest hemp, a strain of the same plant species from which marijuana originates. The bill passed the House last week in a 369 to 47 vote; it passed the Senate the previous day in an 87 to 13 vote.
The move changes the language of a drug law that had been unchanged for a long time and loosely defined hemp alongside marijuana as a controlled substance.
The new bill exempts hemp from that law and defines it as an agricultural product. That means farmers and researchers of hemp now get some of the same benefits as farmers and researchers of other crops, like the ability to apply for insurance and federal grants.
