Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

Detroit Medical Marijuana Update

The past week has been an active one in the City of Detroit when it concerns Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act concerns. The City application deadline for presently running centers was February 15. The Wayne County Circuit Court's Chief Judge, Robert Colombo, Jr. released a judgment regarding the voter initiatives and dispensary zoning requirements. Lastly, the City issued a moratorium on applications and also approvals 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 proprietor and also 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 additionally needed to be filed 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 or not you got on the approved list, as well as despite whether you have actually been running with City authorization, your license with the City will not be renewed. Nor will your existing municipal license to run be renewed. In short, if you didn't get your application in by February 15, 2018, you're out of luck after the expiration of your present license, at least, within the limits of the City of Detroit, for at a minimum of six 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 inquire about the laws as well as guidelines with a medical marijuana licensing attorney who understands the complexities of this ever-changing as well as complex area of regulation.

Moratorium on New Dispensaries:

Detroit has placed a six month moratorium on applications for Medical Marijuana provisioning center licenses since February 15. The City has actually stated that it will certainly not issue any brand-new dispensary licenses during that six month period. A lot more significantly, for provisioning centers that were running under a municipal license or under a legal contract with the City that they would certainly not close your center down, if you did not submit your State Application for a dispensary license, and also send 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, as well as your presently issued and valid license to operate in the City, will not be restored. Companies that did not get their applications in by the due date will 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 may not issue any more licenses after that moratorium is passed, which it would certainly be within its rights to do. As a result, if you didn't get your application in before the due date, you ought to talk with a medical marijuana licensing lawyer to discuss your choices progressing.

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. Voters accepted a reduction in the zoning restrictions pertaining to medical cannabis provisioning centers. The ordinance required that a provisioning center needed to be at the very least 1000 feet away from a church or school. The initiatives proposed to reduce the zoning requirements to make sure that dispensaries just had to be less than 500 feet away from a church or school. The City of Detroit challenged the legality of the voter initiatives and filed 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 can not be altered by voter initiative. Therefore, the initiatives were overruled as well as the original zoning restrictions are once more in place. While a number of citizen teams are vowing an appeal, it will certainly be time before the Court of Appeals and also, eventually, the Michigan Supreme Court can evaluate in on the issue. The zoning ordinance, if it stays unchanged, will likely also affect new types of Medical Marijuana Facilities accepted for licensing under the MMFLA.

Just how Does This Influence My Application?: If you are a dispensary operating legally in Detroit today, as well as you sent your application to the State as well as the City by February 15, 2018, then, these adjustments will certainly have little to no effect on you. Any individual operating a center in Detroit that did not apply by the due date, or that is running illegally as well as is not on the Detroit authorized centers' listing, the choice can be ruining. You may not be able to operate your center after completion of the year, or sooner, relying on the nature of your facility. If you are not on the approved list, you will certainly not be able to acquire city approval to operate, which is a condition precedent to obtaining your State license. Therefore, you will not be able to acquire an operating license from the State, and your unregulated center is likely to come to be a target of State regulators. If you were running legally, yet did not get your application in to the City or the State by February 15, 2018, you will certainly not be municipally accepted to continue running past your existing licensing date. There is also no guarantee that you will certainly be able to send an application after the present six month moratorium, nor exists any reason to think that the City will certainly accept anymore applications for provisioning centers. If your need is to continue supplying patients with medicine, you require to talk to a well-informed clinical cannabis licensing lawyer to help you think of an intend on just how you can attempt to continue in the sector.

If you intend to review obtaining 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 an assessment.