Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

Detroit Medical Cannabis Update

The past week has actually been a hectic one in the City of Detroit when it involves Medical marijuana Facilities Licensing Act problems. The City application deadline for currently running facilities was February 15. The Wayne County Circuit Court's Chief Judge, Robert Colombo, Jr. released a ruling relating to the voter initiatives and dispensary zoning requirements. Ultimately, the City released a postponement on applications and also authorizations for brand-new medical marijuana provisioning centers within the City of Detroit.

Detroit MMFLA Deadline Comes and Goes: If you were a medical marijuana provisioning center owner and you got on the City's approved operating list, you were required to submit your application to the State of Michigan Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs by February 15, 2018. That application additionally needed to be submitted with the City of Detroit for municipal attestation of operating approval by that date too. If you did not get your application in by February 15, 2018, whether you were on the accepted list, and also regardless of whether you have actually been running with City approval, your license with the City will not be renewed. Neither will your existing municipal license to run be renewed. Basically, if you didn't 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 be able to apply, or be approved, once the moratorium is over. All the more reason to inquire about the laws and also rules with a medical marijuana licensing attorney who recognizes the complexities of this ever-changing as well as complicated area of regulation.

Moratorium on New Provisioning Centers:

Detroit has placed a six month moratorium on applications for Medical Cannabis dispensary licenses as of February 15. The City has mentioned that it will certainly not provide any kind of new provisioning center licenses throughout that 6 month period. Even more dramatically, for dispensaries that were running under a municipal license or under a legal arrangement with the City that they would not close your center down, if you did not send your State Application for a provisioning center license, and also 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 operate, and your currently issued and valid license to operate in the City, will not be renewed. Services that did not get their applications in by the deadline will certainly need to wait until at least after the moratorium is over before they can try to re-apply. There has been a lot of discussion that the City might not issue anymore licenses after that moratorium is passed, which it would certainly be within its rights to do. Consequently, if you didn't get your application in prior to the due date, you need to talk with a medical marijuana licensing attorney to discuss your alternatives moving on.

Circuit Court Strikes Down Zoning Initiative:

The final news pertains to the voter initiatives that were passed in November which transformed the zoning requirements for dispensaries. Citizens approved a reduction in the zoning constraints pertaining to medical cannabis dispensaries. The ordinance required that a provisioning center had to be at least 1000 feet away from a church or school. The initiatives proposed to decrease 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. established 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 might not be altered by voter initiative. Therefore, the initiatives were struck down and also the original zoning restrictions are again in place. While several citizen groups are vowing an appeal, it will certainly be some time before the Court of Appeals and also, inevitably, the Michigan Supreme Court can weigh in on the issue. The zoning ordinance, if it remains unchanged, will likely also influence new types 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 now, and you sent your application to the State and the City by February 15, 2018, after that, these changes will certainly have little to no impact on you. Any person running a facility in Detroit who did not apply by the due date, or that is operating unlawfully and also is not on the Detroit authorized facilities' checklist, the decision could be devastating. You may not have the ability to operate your center after completion of the year, or sooner, depending on the nature of your facility. If you are not on the authorized list, you will certainly not be able to obtain city approval to operate, which is a condition precedent to obtaining your State license. Consequently, you will certainly not be able to acquire an operating license from the State, as well as your unregulated facility is most likely to end up being a target of State regulators. If you were running legitimately, yet did not get your application in to the City or the State by February 15, 2018, you will not be municipally approved to proceed operating past your present licensing date. There is additionally no guarantee that you will certainly be able to send an application after the present six month moratorium, nor exists any kind of reason to think that the City will accept anymore applications for provisioning centers. If your wish is to proceed giving individuals with medicine, you need to speak with a well-informed clinical marijuana licensing lawyer to assist you think of a plan on how you can try to proceed in the sector.

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

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

contact Fowler & Williams, PLC today for an examination.