Detroit Medical Cannabis Update
The past week has actually been a busy one in the City of Detroit when it pertains to Medical marijuana Facilities Licensing Act issues. The City application deadline for currently running centers was February 15. The Wayne County Circuit Court’s Chief Judge, Robert Colombo, Jr. provided a judgment regarding the voter initiatives as well as dispensary zoning requirements. Ultimately, the City issued a postponement on applications and approvals for brand-new medical marijuana dispensaries within the City of Detroit.
Detroit MMFLA Deadline Comes and Goes: If you were a medical marijuana dispensary owner and you were on the City’s authorized 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 had to be submitted with the City of Detroit for municipal attestation of operating approval by that date as well. If you did not get your application in by February 15, 2018, whether or not you got on the approved list, as well as no matter whether you have actually been operating with City authorization, your license with the City will not be renewed. Nor will your existing 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 present 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. Even more reason to ask about the guidelines as well as policies with a medical marijuana licensing attorney who understands the complexities of this ever-changing as well as complex location of legislation.
Moratorium on New Provisioning Centers:
Detroit has placed a 6 month moratorium on applications for Medical Cannabis provisioning center licenses as of February 15. The City has specified that it will certainly not issue any kind of new dispensary licenses during that six month duration. Much more dramatically, for provisioning centers that were operating under a municipal license or under a legal contract with the City that they would certainly not close your facility down, if you did not send 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 accepted to operate, as well as your presently issued and valid license to operate in the City, will certainly 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 try to re-apply. There has been a lot of discussion that the City may not provide anymore licenses after that moratorium is passed, which it would be within its rights to do. Therefore, if you didn’t get your application in prior to the target date, you ought to speak with a medical cannabis licensing attorney to discuss your alternatives moving on.
Circuit Court Strikes Down Zoning Initiative:
The last news regards the voter initiatives that were passed in November which transformed the zoning requirements for dispensaries. Citizens authorized a decrease in the zoning restrictions concerning medical marijuana dispensaries. The ordinance required that a dispensary needed to be at the very least 1000 feet away from a church or school. The initiatives proposed to reduce the zoning requirements so that provisioning centers 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. 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 could not be altered by voter initiative. As a result, the initiatives were overruled and also the initial zoning restrictions are once again in place. While several citizen teams are vowing an appeal, it will certainly be a long time before the Court of Appeals and, ultimately, the Michigan Supreme Court can consider in on the issue. The zoning statute, if it continues to be the same, will likely additionally impact 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 lawfully in Detroit today, and you sent your application to the State and also the City by February 15, 2018, after that, these adjustments will have little to no effect on you. Any individual operating a facility in Detroit who did not apply by the deadline, or who is running illegally and is not on the Detroit accepted facilities’ checklist, the decision can be ruining. You might not be able to run your center after the end of the year, or sooner, depending on the nature of your center. If you are not on the authorized list, you will not have the ability to get city approval to operate, which is a condition precedent to acquiring your State license. Because of this, you will certainly not have the ability to acquire an operating license from the State, and also your unregulated center is likely to become a target of State regulators. If you were operating legitimately, however did not get your application in to the City or the State by February 15, 2018, you will not be municipally approved to continue running past your present licensing date. There is also no guarantee that you will be able to submit an application after the present 6 month moratorium, neither is there any type of reason to think that the City will approve any more applications for provisioning centers. If your wish is to continue providing clients with medication, you need to speak to a knowledgeable medical marijuana licensing attorney to aid you come up with a plan on how you can try to proceed in the sector.
If you wish to talk about getting a license under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act,
be it a dispensaries, processing center, grow operation, testing laboratory or secured transporter,
call Fowler & Williams, PLC today for an appointment.