Considering beginning a Medical Marihuana Grow to ensure that you can provide marijuana to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver who wishes to take your product commercial on a bigger scale? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, now you can do so lawfully, as long as you can successfully acquire a license from the State to do so. This might be an amazing possibility with numerous new owners seeing remarkable degrees of revenue as well as success in the market. Nonetheless, if you make this decision, you do need to make sure that you obtain a Michigan commercial grow license. Failing to do so will cause your venture being, most likely, illegal and also result in court action that will maim your organisation before it starts.
Regrettably, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex and also costly process. Ask a medical marijuana attorney, and they will tell you that you need to see to it that you are prepared. Let’s take a look at the actions you will certainly need to take, the team you need to build as well as the position that you could find yourself in.
Who Can Apply?
The very first concern to ask yourself is whether or not you are eligible to apply for a Medical Marihuana Facilities license. The bright side is that any person, an individual or a full organisation can apply for a license. Applications began in 2017, and there is currently no due date to finish the necessary forms. Certainly, there are certain people, that, due to the fact that they can not fulfill the minimal monetary requirements, or because they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their history, are averted from applying. Nevertheless, thinking you do not have a disqualifying criminal conviction, as well as you, or your team of capitalists, satisfy the minimal economic needs, there are 2 major actions to the MMFLA licensing application process. The initial step will certainly be completed whether you have a final location for your building or not. However, if you have actually already picked a location before sending your State application, something that we highly advise, you can complete both steps at the very same time.
Pre-Qualification
Pre-qualification is the initial step, and it begins with an extensive background check. There are 2 sections– 401 and also 404 of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (M.C.L. 333.27401 et seq.) to refer to when establishing who you need to legally reveal and whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This consists of people such as the spouse of the individual and all corporate officers. This is one of the reasons it is worth talking to an Mmma lawyer as it can be quite complicated to get all the information correct. The State will certainly intend to do a deep dive into the backgrounds of not only all of the “interested parties,” or members/owners of your cannabis organisation, but the State will also consider the backgrounds of every one of those person’s spouses as well. Should anybody have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their past, or otherwise be of “good moral character,” the State can reject the entire application. In other words, if there is one bad apple in the bunch, the State throws away the entire application. For that reason, it is necessary to learn about the histories of the persons you have in your investment group, before applying for your Medical Marihuana Facilities License. There are a great deal of things that an experienced lawyer can do to help you prepare for your application, and to guarantee that any prospective concerns with your application are recognized, disclosed or gotten ready for before the application is sent. Nonetheless, this isn’t the only reason a lawyer will commonly be a crucial and necessary hire.
Consider The Price
Before your details can be reviewed by an expert from the Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation (BMMR), you need to pay a $6000 cost for your application. BMMR will certainly reject to move forward with your application until this has been paid completely. As well as being expensive, this fee is non-refundable so you want to make certain that there are no problems with your application that can bring about it being denied. An MMFLA attorney can guarantee that this is the case and help you navigate any type of tricky problems. Better, before you can obtain State approval for operation, you will also have to obtain a municipal or city approval. Each city or township will certainly also require you to finish an application and you will have to pay an application fee there also. The application cost can range depending on what the city wishes to charge, however, they can not charge greater than $5,000.00. A lot of cities and townships are charging the maximum amount. In total, the application fees alone are likely to be in excess of $10,000.00. That doesn’t include the costs of ancillary services, such as accountants, architects, marketing professionals and also various other solutions essential for your application to be complete.
Once you have gathered and also paid the application fees, all applicants and supplemental applicants will have their finger prints taken. You could believe that if you currently have actually had your fingerprints taken by local law enforcement this action can be avoided. Nonetheless, BMMR will decline finger prints unless they are asked for and also collected by them with the licensing process. You will have to go to an authorized place where your fingerprints can be collected digitally and submitted for review by the State.
Facility License
This is the 2nd step and bear in mind, if you have already picked a location to grow cannabis, you can finish this step with the first. You need to be prepared to meet all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will need to have a business plan. However, that plan has to include specific things. You must have all of the parts needed by the State: facility plan, security plan, marketing plan, staffing plan, technology plan, waste disposal plan (if applicable), and also a record keeping plan. There are specific minimum requirements set forth in the Administrative Rules that regulate MMFLA facilities, with which you must show your business is in compliance.
Your facility must be located in a city or township that allows MMFLA companies to run. The MMFLA has strict policies for individuals as well as companies intending to grow in a municipality. If you want to grow in a town, it has to have an ordinance that authorizes marihuana facility operations. Colloquially, the municipality needs to have “opted-in” to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (list of Michigan municipalities who have opted in to MMFLA), and it needs to have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the rules and standards for those facilities to operate within the city or township. The complete standards can be located in 205, however if you do have any inquiries you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, alternatively, get your lawyer to do this for you. As the application progresses, BMMR will certainly call applicants, supplying info on any type of other requirements, including a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.
Approved
Lastly, you may gain authorization for your license. After you are informed of this, you will need to pay for a regulatory assessment. Presently, the regulatory assessments for 2018 are as follows:
Safety Compliance Facility and Secured Transporters– $0.00.
Class A Grow License– $10,000.
Class B Grow License– $48,000.00.
Class C Grow License– $48,000.00.
Processor and Provisioning Center– $48,000.00.
Likely, the State will establish an across the board equivalent regulatory assessment for all licenses in 2019. Regulatory assessments are subject to change annually, so it is difficult to predict exactly what it will be. However, beginning in 2019, despite which license you obtain, anticipate the assessment to be imposed and also for that assessment to be significant.
Verdict.
We hope this helps you decide whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Bear in mind, with a legal representative at hand, this process can be much much easier, and also you will obtain professional guidance on exactly how to proceed correctly to ensure that your application is accepted. Even after you obtain approval, legal advice is advised to guarantee you stay on top of changes to the legislation and also guidelines, and so that you can stay in compliance and keep your organisation open.
Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we concentrate on aiding clients obtain MMFLA licenses and also making sure continuing compliance.
Should you choose to retain counsel to assist you on your licensing journey, give us a phone call.