Sept 15, 2018 – The Michigan Cannabis Business Licensing Deadline
The Medical Marihuana Licensing Board’s September 15th deadline for unlicensed provisioning centers to shut down is approaching fast. Originally the deadline was June 15, 2018, but the state licensing office moved it due to an apparent backlog in processing applications
Only about 16 licenses out of a reported 637 applications have been approved.
There are approximately over 200 provisioning centers operating temporarily under state emergency rules. Most will have to shut down on the deadline date.
There are licenses that have been approved which include cannabis businesses in each of the five classes of operation in the state regulatory system. Even if there are more licenses approved at a meeting scheduled Sept. 10 meeting, it might only be a few.
“The implementation is insufficient,” says attorney Josh Colton of the Komorn Law firm. “Patients need safe access to their medicine. Extending the deadline from June to September was for this purpose. To all of a sudden shut this down is going to leave quite a few people scrambling.”
There are approximately 300,000 Michigan medical marijuana patients. The licensing bureau has calculated that two-thirds of the patients live within 30 miles or so of a county where one of the licensed provisioning centers is located.
“Even though I think [MMLB] are doing everything they possibly can, even if they are successful in getting 20 more facilities licensed, it is simply not enough to take care of the patient base,” says Colton.
“I have many cannabis business clients looking for answers” said attorney Michael Komorn who has experience and is recognized as an expert in Michigan Medical Marijuana laws.
