Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

The previous week has been a busy one in the City of Detroit when it involves Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act problems. The City application deadline for presently operating centers was February 15. The Wayne County Circuit Court's Chief Judge, Robert Colombo, Jr. released a judgment pertaining to the voter initiatives and dispensary zoning requirements. Ultimately, the City released a postponement on applications as well as approvals for new medical marijuana provisioning centers within the City of Detroit.

Detroit MMFLA Deadline Comes and Goes: If you were a medical marijuana dispensary owner and you were on the City's accepted operating list, you were required to send your application to the State of Michigan Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs by February 15, 2018. That application also needed to be submitted with the City of Detroit for municipal attestation of operating approval by that date as well. If you did not get your application in by February 15, 2018, whether you were on the accepted list, and regardless of whether you have been operating with City approval, your license with the City will certainly not be renewed. Neither will your present municipal license to run be renewed. In other words, if you really did not get your application in by February 15, 2018, you're out of luck after the expiry of your existing license, at least, within the limits of the City of Detroit, for at a minimum of 6 months, until the moratorium is passed. Even then, there's no assurance that you will have the ability to apply, or be approved, once the moratorium is over. All the more reason to ask about the regulations and also regulations with a medical cannabis licensing lawyer that comprehends the complexities of this ever-changing and also complex area of law.

Moratorium on New Dispensaries:

Detroit has placed a 6 month moratorium on applications for Medical Cannabis dispensary licenses as of February 15. The City has specified that it will certainly not release any kind of new provisioning center licenses during that 6 month period. A lot more significantly, for dispensaries that were running under a municipal license or under a contractual agreement with the City that they would certainly not shut your center down, if you did not send your State Application for a provisioning center license, as well as submit your application to the City of Detroit for an attestation by close of business on February 15, 2018, you will not be authorized to run, and also your currently issued and valid license to operate in the City, will not be restored. Businesses that did not get their applications in by the due date will certainly have to wait until at least after the moratorium is over before they can attempt to re-apply. There has been a lot of discussion that the City may not release any more licenses after that moratorium is passed, which it would be within its rights to do. As a result, if you didn't get your application in before the target date, you must speak with a medical marijuana licensing attorney to review your options progressing.

Circuit Court Strikes Down Zoning Initiative:

The final news regards the voter initiatives that were passed in November which changed the zoning requirements for dispensaries. Voters accepted a reduction in the zoning limitations concerning medical marijuana provisioning centers. The ordinance required that a dispensary had to be at least 1000 feet away from a church or school. The initiatives proposed to reduce the zoning requirements to ensure that dispensaries only needed to be less than 500 feet away from a church or school. The City of Detroit challenged the legality of the voter initiatives and submitted a suit in the Wayne County Circuit Court. On Friday, Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. determined that under the Home Rule statute, which governs how cities like Detroit are run and governed in the State of Michigan, zoning restrictions and requirements could not be altered by voter initiative. Consequently, the initiatives were struck down and the initial zoning limitations are once more in place. While a number of citizen teams are vowing an appeal, it will be a long time before the Court of Appeals as well as, inevitably, the Michigan Supreme Court can consider in on the problem. The zoning regulation, if it continues to be unmodified, will likely additionally impact new sorts of Medical Marijuana Facilities accepted for licensing under the MMFLA.

Exactly how Does This Impact My Application?: If you are a provisioning center operating legally in Detroit today, and also you sent your application to the State and also the City by February 15, 2018, then, these adjustments will certainly have little to no impact on you. Anybody running a facility in detroit that did not apply by the target date, or that is operating illegally as well as is not on the Detroit approved facilities' listing, the decision might be ruining. You might not have the ability to run your center after the end of the year, or sooner, depending on the nature of your center. If you are not on the accepted list, you will certainly not be able to get city approval to operate, which is a condition precedent to acquiring your State license. As a result, you will not be able to obtain an operating license from the State, and also your unregulated facility is most likely to come to be a target of State regulators. If you were operating legally, however did not get your application in to the City or the State by February 15, 2018, you will not be municipally authorized to continue operating past your present licensing date. There is additionally no assurance that you will be able to submit an application after the present 6 month moratorium, neither is there any reason to believe that the City will certainly approve anymore applications for dispensaries. If your desire is to continue offering clients with medication, you require to consult with an experienced clinical cannabis licensing lawyer to help you come up with a plan on exactly how you can try to continue in the market.

If you wish to review getting a license under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act,

be it a dispensaries, processing facility, grow operation, testing laboratory or secured transporter,

contact Fowler & Williams, PLC today for a consultation.