Detroit Medical Cannabis Update
The past week has been a busy one in the City of Detroit when it involves Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act concerns. The City application due date for presently operating centers was February 15. The Wayne County Circuit Court’s Chief Judge, Robert Colombo, Jr. provided a judgment regarding the voter initiatives and dispensary zoning requirements. Ultimately, the City issued a halt on applications and 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 dispensary proprietor and you were on the City’s approved 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 likewise had 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 were on the accepted list, and also no matter whether you have been running with City authorization, your license with the City will not be renewed. Nor will your present municipal license to operate be renewed. Simply put, 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 six months, until the moratorium is passed. Even then, there’s no guarantee that you will be able to apply, or be approved, once the moratorium is over. Even more reason to inquire about the laws as well as guidelines with a medical marijuana licensing attorney that comprehends the complexities of this ever-changing and also complicated area of legislation.
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 mentioned that it will certainly not issue any new dispensary licenses throughout that six month duration. Even more significantly, for provisioning centers that were running under a municipal license or under a contractual arrangement with the City that they would not shut your center down, if you did not submit your State Application for a dispensary license, as well as send your application to the City of Detroit for an attestation by close of business on February 15, 2018, you will not be approved to run, as well as 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 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 release anymore 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 prior to the due date, you need to talk with a medical marijuana licensing attorney to review your options progressing.
Circuit Court Strikes Down Zoning Initiative:
The last news regards the voter initiatives that were passed in November which changed the zoning requirements for dispensaries. Citizens approved a reduction in the zoning restrictions regarding medical cannabis provisioning centers. The ordinance required that a provisioning center had to be at the very least 1000 feet away from a church or school. The initiatives proposed to lower 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 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 transformed by voter initiative. Because of this, the initiatives were struck down as well as the original zoning limitations are again in place. While numerous citizen groups are vowing an appeal, it will certainly be some time before the Court of Appeals and also, ultimately, the Michigan Supreme Court can weigh in on the issue. The zoning ordinance, if it continues to be unchanged, will likely additionally influence brand-new types of Medical Marijuana Facilities authorized for licensing under the MMFLA.
Exactly how Does This Influence My Application?: If you are a provisioning center operating legally in Detroit right now, as well as you submitted your application to the State and the City by February 15, 2018, then, these adjustments will certainly have little to no effect on you. Anybody operating a facility in Detroit who did not apply by the target date, or who is running illegally and also is not on the Detroit approved centers’ listing, the decision can be devastating. You may not have the ability to operate your facility 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 have the ability to get city approval to run, which is a condition precedent to acquiring your State license. Because of this, you will certainly not be able to acquire an operating license from the State, and your unregulated facility is most likely to come to be a target of State regulators. If you were operating 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 running past your current licensing date. There is additionally no guarantee that you will certainly be able to submit an application after the present 6 month moratorium, neither exists any factor to believe that the City will certainly approve any more applications for provisioning centers. If your desire is to proceed offering people with medication, you need to talk to a well-informed clinical cannabis licensing lawyer to assist you develop a plan on just how you can attempt to proceed in the market.
If you want to talk about getting 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.
CRUSH T20 