Legalized Recreational Marijuana in 9  States and DC – Is Michigan Next?

Michigan

Voters will decide Nov. 6, 2018 whether to legalize recreational marijuana statewide.  Here’s a great report from Michael Crowe  which was posted on ClickonDetroit.com

The basics

The proposal that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot is titled Michigan Marijuana Legalization Initiative (MMLI), and it would allow persons 21 years of age or older to possess and use marijuana as long as they’re not in public or driving under the influence. Should MMLI pass, individuals would be allowed to carry up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana on their person and possess up to 10 ounces at home. They would additionally be allowed to grow up to 12 marijuana plants at their residence.

However, municipalities would be able to limit or ban marijuana businesses within their boundaries. MMLI would also impose a retailer-paid excise sales tax of 10% on marijuana sales in addition to the state’s standard sales tax of 6% paid by the consumer.

 

Taxation

The 10% excise tax rate would essentially make Michigan the state with the lowest overall tax rate on recreational marijuana in the nation. Colorado imposes a 15% excise tax and 15% sales tax on recreational marijuana sales. Oregon has a 17% sales tax with up to 3% in local taxes. Washington maintains a hefty sales tax of 37% on recreational sales. California, Nevada, Alaska, Massachusetts and Maine also have higher overall taxes on the product than Michigan would if voters approve MMLI.

Opponents of the ballot initiative have actually seized upon its relatively low tax as an argument for their side. “Michigan would become the marijuana capital of America if this passes,” said Scott Greenlee, president of anti-legalization group Healthy and Productive Michigan. “The 10 percent tax rate is the lowest of any state that has recreational marijuana, and yet people would be able to have more of it on them and in their homes than anywhere in America.”

Revenue allocation

The idea behind MMLI’s restrained excise tax is to encourage consumers to shop in the legal marketplace rather than the illegal one, while still raising the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to provide significant funding for the following:

• Administrative costs in Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
• $20 million annually (for at least two years or until 2022) to research the use of marijuana in treating U.S. military veterans and preventing veteran suicide

All remaining revenue would be divided as such:

• 15% to cities in proportion to the number of marijuana retail stores or micro-businesses within the city
• 15% to counties in proportion to the number of marijuana retail stores or micro-businesses within the county
• 35% to the school aid fund for K-12 education 
• 35% to the Michigan transportation fund for the repair and maintenance of roads and bridges

Even some proponents of MMLI admit, however, a 10% excise tax won’t be sustainable in the long-run as supply catches up with demand and prices drop. Matthew Abel, a senior partner at Cannabis Counsel (a marijuana law firm in Detroit) and the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, explained that the state legislature will have to take action in the future if it wants to sustain recreational marijuana revenue.

In Colorado, higher taxes on recreational marijuana enable the first $40 million to go to education and infrastructure projects in the state. Local governments that have approved marijuana businesses also get a share of the revenue, as they would in Michigan. The rest enters a Marijuana Tax Cash Fund that is used for a variety of aims.

Timing and more

Should Michigan voters approve the recreational marijuana ballot initiative on Nov. 6, the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs would not begin accepting business applications until December 2019. For 24 months after that, the department can only accept applications from Michigan residents who already have a license to operate a medical marijuana facility.

The slow timeframe bears a resemblance to Colorado’s recreational marijuana rollout. Voters there legalized the substance in 2012, but the first businesses didn’t open until January 2014. Also like Colorado, Michigan’s recreational marijuana proposal does not prohibit employers from drug testing their employees and making disciplinary decisions based on such tests.

A recent poll suggests Michigan’s vote on MMLI is likely to be close, but the broader national trend feels like a tipping point has been reached on marijuana legalization. Thirty states have legalized it in one form or another, recreational use is now legal along the entire West Coast and a number of Democratic senators are gearing up to propose legislation to decriminalize and regulate marijuana at the federal level.

Read more and check for follow up stories here at Click On Detroit

You can find the full text of the Michigan Marijuana Legalization Initiative here.

Be Heard. Go Vote!

By Michael Crowe – Political Fellow
Posted: 4:57 PM, July 25, 2018

9  States and Washington DC

1. Alaska

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Ballot Measure 2  — Approved Nov. 4, 2014 by 53% of voters

Law: Alaska Statute Chapter 17.38: The Regulation of Marijuana

State Website: Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office

Effective: Feb. 24, 2015

Alaska Medical Marijuana Laws: 
The possession limits for medical marijuana patients are the same as the limits for adult users.

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants with no more than 3 mature plants

Hash & Concentrates: Possession of hash and concentrates is illegal. Possession of up to 3 g is a misdemeanor, more is a felony.

2. California

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Proposition 64: The Adult Use Marijuana Act  — Approved Nov. 9, 2016 by 57% of voters

Law: Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act

State Website: California Cannabis Portal

Effective: Nov. 9, 2016 (revised penalties); Jan. 1, 2018 (retail sales); 2023 (restrictions to be lifted on large-scale corporations)

California Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the recreational law and may possess up to 8 oz usable marijuana, and 6 mature or 12 immature plants.

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants, including the harvest from those 6 plants

Hash & Concentrates: up to 8 g (more than 8 g is a misdemeanor)

3. Colorado

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Amendment 64 (55%)  — Approved Nov. 6, 2012 by 55% of voters

Law: Colorado Constitution: Article 18, section 16

State Website: Colorado Marijuana

Effective: Dec. 10, 2012 (revised penalties) Jan. 1, 2014 (commercial sales)

Colorado Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the recreational law and may possess up to 2 oz usable marijuana, and 6 plants (3 mature and 3 immature).

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants with no more than 3 mature plants

Hash & Concentrates: up to 1 oz

4. Maine

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Question 1 — Approved Dec. 17, 2016 (after recount of Nov. 8, 2016 election results was abandoned) by 50.26% of voters

Law: The Marijuana Legalization Act

Effective: Jan. 30, 2017 (grow and possess)

[Editor’s Note: On May 2, 2018, the Maine House (109-39) and Senate (28-6) voted to override Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of LD 1719 (Chapter 409 Public Law) . The Department of Adminstration and Financial Services is required to present regulatory rules for legal sale and production of marijuana to the legislature in January 2019; marijuana retail shops are expected to open no sooner than Spring 2019. The bill lowers the recreational marijuana possession limits from 6 mature plants to 3 mature plants.]

Maine Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the recreational law and may possess up to 2.5 oz marijuana and 6 plants.

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 2.5 oz

Plants: up to 3 flowering plants, 12 immature plants, unlimited seedlings, and all marijuana produced from the plants

Hash & Concentrates: up to 5 g

5. Massachusetts

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Question 4  — Approved Nov. 8, 2016 by 53.66% of voters

Law: Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act

State Website: Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission

Effective: Dec. 15, 2015

Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the recreational law and may possess up to 10 oz (a 60-day personal supply).

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants; no single residence may exceed 12 plants

Hash & Concentrates: up to 5 g. Possession of hash is illegal though decriminalized for possession of up to 1 oz.

6. Nevada

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Question 2 — Approved Nov. 8, 2016 by 54.47% of voters

Law: Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 453D – Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana

State Website: Marijuana in Nevada

Effective: Jan. 1, 2017

Nevada Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the adult-use law and may possess up to 2.5 oz of usable marijuana and 12 plants.

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants; no single residence may exceed 12 plants

Hash & Concentrates: up to 3.5 g

7. Oregon

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Oregon Legalized Marijuana Inititative, Measure 91  — Approved Nov. 4, 2014 by 56.11% of voters

Law: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 475B – Cannabis Regulation: Recreational Use of Cannabis

State Website: Oregon Recreational Marijuana

Effective: Mar. 29, 2016

Oregon Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the adult-use law and may possess up to 24 oz of usable marijuana and 24 plants (6 mature and 18 immature).

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz in public; up to 8 oz homegrown at home

Plants: up to 4 plants per residence

Hash & Concentrates: up to 16 oz solid infused at home; up to 72 oz liquid infused at home; up to 1 oz extract at home

8. Vermont

State Marijuana Laws

Legislative Bill: H.511  — Approved Jan. 22, 2018

Law: An Act Related to Eliminating Penalties for Possession of Limited Amounts of Marijuana by Adults 21 Years of Age or Older

State Website: State of Vermont Marijuana Commission

Effective: July 1, 2018

Retail sales are not allowed

Vermont Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the adult-use law and may possess up to two mature plants, seven immature plants, and 2 oz of usable marijuana.

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants per household (no more than 2 mature), and all marijuana produced from the plants

Hash & Concentrates: 5 g

9. Washington

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Washington Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, Inititative 502  — Approved Nov. 6, 2012 by 55.7% of voters

Law: Revisions to the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, chapter 69.50

State Website: Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board

Effective: Dec. 6, 2012

Washington Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the adult-use law and may possess up to 3 oz usable marijuana; 48 oz of marijuana-infused product in solid form; or 216 oz marijuana-infused liquid; 21 g concentrate; 6 plants for personal use and up to 8 oz from those plants .

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 1 oz

Plants: Plants are illegal. Any amount is a felony.

Hash & Concentrates: up to 16 oz marijuana-infused product in solid form; up to 72 oz marijuana-infused product in liquid form; up to 7 g marijuana concentrate

District of Columbia

State Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure: Initiative 71  — Approved Nov. 4, 2014 by 64.87% of voters

Law: Marijuana Legalization and Regulation Act of 2015

DC Website: DC Metro Police Department

Effective: Feb. 26, 2015

Retail sales are not allowed

DC Medical Marijuana Laws: 
Medical cannabis patients are not subject to the limits of the recreational law and may possess up to 2 oz dried marijuana

Possession and Cultivation Limits

Age: 21+

Usable Marijuana: up to 2 oz

Plants: up to 6 plants per person with no more than 3 mature plants; up to 12 plants (no more than 6 mature) for a single residence with more than one 21+ resident

Hash & Concentrates: Possession of hash and concentrates is illegal and punishable with 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.