The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is standing firm on their stance that all marijuana facilities that are not licensed by the State under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, will have to close down, and will get a cease and desist letter at that time. While the centers are not mandated to shut down, the State Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has made clear that any facility that continues to run after receipt of the cease and desist will most likely not be given a license. Further, the State has stated suggested Final Rules relating to Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to permit or registered qualifying clients to get home shipments from provisioning centers (with restriction, certainly) and also will certainly also permit online purchasing. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were expecting to be able to continue to be relevant to their clients until 2021?
Traditional Model
The old model for registered caregivers was rather straightforward. You were allowed to cultivate up to twelve plants for each patient. You could have 5 patients, besides yourself. If the caregiver was also a client, they could likewise grow twelve plants for personal use too. So, a caregiver could cultivate an overall of seventy-two marihuana plants. The majority of caregivers created far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could utilize for patients and personal use. The caregivers would then sell their excess product to medical marihuana dispensaries.
Under the emergency rules, marihuana dispensaries that were running with municipal approval, but that had actually not gotten a State license were allowed to continue running and also buying from registered caregivers. Those centers were allowed to buy caregiver excess for thirty days after receiving their State license for stock. That implied considerable earnings for caregivers as well as significant supply for dispensaries.
After September 15, 2018
The troubles for registered caregivers only starts on September 15, 2018. All State licensed facilities that will continue to be open and operating can not buy any kind of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly prohibited from purchasing or selling any kind of product that is not produced by a State Licensed Grower or Processor that has actually had their item tested and certified by a State Licensed Safety Compliance Facility. Any State Licensed Provisioning Center that is found to have product available for sale that is not from a State Licensed Grower or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, consisting of short-term or irreversible retraction of the license. Given the risk, licensed centers are very unlikely to run the risk of buying from a caregiver, given the potential repercussions.
Even more, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to sell to, even throughout the licensing process, will be closing down. Some may continue to run, but given the State's stance on centers that do not comply with their cease and desist letters being looked at very adversely in the licensing process, the market will certainly be drastically lessened, if not eliminated. As a result, caregivers will not have much option for offering their overages, as well as will be restricted only to their existing patients.
New Administrative Rules
A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 relating to the brand-new recommended final administrative rules for the regulation of medical marihuana facilities, which will become effective in November, when the emergency rules discontinue being effective. Those final recommended administrative rules allow for house delivery by a provisioning center, and will likewise allow managed online ordering. Those 2 things remove much of the role contemplated by caregivers under the new guidelines. Clients would certainly still require them to visit the provisioning facility to get and deliver cannabis to clients that were too sick or that were handicapped and can not reach those licensed facilities to obtain their medical cannabis. With this modification to the administrative rules, such clients will no longer require a caregiver. They will have the ability to place an order online and have the provisioning facility deliver it to them, essentially eliminating the necessity of a caregiver.
Final thought
For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to remove caregivers under the brand-new administrative plan, even prior to the planned removal in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a lot of factors the State could be doing it, but that is of little comfort to caregivers. The bottom line is, the State is doing away with the caregiver model, and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they desire caregivers out of the market immediately, and they are establishing policies to make certain that happens sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while beneficial and needed under the old Michigan Medical Marihuana Act structure, are currently going the way of the Dodo. Like everything else, the Marihuana regulations are evolving, and some things that have flourished in the past, won't make it to see the brand-new legalized era.
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