Detroit Medical Cannabis Update

Detroit Medical Cannabis Update

The previous week has actually been a hectic one in the City of Detroit when it concerns 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 ruling relating to the voter initiatives as well as dispensary zoning requirements. Finally, the City provided a halt 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 dispensary owner and also you were on the City's accepted 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 also 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 you got on the authorized list, and also no matter whether you have been operating with City approval, your license with the City will not be renewed. Neither will your present municipal license to operate be renewed. In short, if you really did not get your application in by February 15, 2018, you're out of luck after the expiration 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 guarantee 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 and also regulations with a medical cannabis licensing attorney who recognizes the complexities of this ever-changing and intricate area of legislation.

Moratorium on New Dispensaries:

Detroit has placed a six month moratorium on applications for Medical Marijuana dispensary licenses as of February 15. The City has actually mentioned that it will certainly not release any brand-new dispensary licenses throughout that six month period. A lot more substantially, for provisioning centers that were operating under a municipal license or under a legal arrangement with the City that they would certainly not shut your center down, if you did not submit your State Application for a dispensary 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, as well as your presently 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 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 anymore licenses after that moratorium is passed, which it would certainly be within its rights to do. Therefore, if you didn't get your application in before the target date, you must chat with a medical marijuana licensing lawyer to review your alternatives progressing.

Circuit Court Strikes Down Zoning Initiative:

The last news pertains to the voter initiatives that were passed in November which changed the zoning requirements for provisioning centers. Voters accepted a decrease in the zoning constraints regarding 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 reduce the zoning requirements to ensure that provisioning centers only 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 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 overruled and also the original zoning restrictions are once again in place. While several citizen groups are vowing an appeal, it will be some time before the Court of Appeals and also, eventually, the Michigan Supreme Court can weigh in on the problem. The zoning ordinance, if it continues to be unchanged, will likely additionally affect new types of Medical Cannabis Facilities approved for licensing under the MMFLA.

Exactly how Does This Impact My Application?: If you are a dispensary operating legally in Detroit now, and also you submitted your application to the State and also the City by February 15, 2018, after that, these modifications will certainly have little to no impact on you. Any person running a facility in Detroit that did not apply by the due date, or who is operating illegally and also is not on the Detroit approved facilities' listing, the choice might be ruining. You may not have the ability to operate your facility after completion of the year, or sooner, depending upon the nature of your facility. If you are not on the accepted list, you will certainly not be able to acquire city approval to operate, which is a condition precedent to getting your State license. Therefore, you will not be able to acquire an operating license from the State, as well as your unregulated center is likely to become 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 certainly not be municipally authorized to proceed operating past your present licensing date. There is likewise no warranty that you will certainly be able to submit an application after the present six month moratorium, nor exists any reason to believe that the City will authorize any more applications for dispensaries. If your desire is to proceed providing patients with medication, you need to talk to an educated clinical cannabis licensing attorney to assist you think of a plan on how you can try to continue in the sector.

If you wish 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,

call Fowler & Williams, PLC today for an assessment.