With surprise announcement after surprise announcement breaking, the Michigan cannabis market is stormy. Michigan’s recreational cannabis sales begin a month early, but Wanye county has banned rec. While this may seem like bad news, it will not be ruinous for the leading Midwestern cannabis market.
According to the Marijuana Regulatory Agency, (MRA), applications received before the ban won’t be affected. Instead, if a cannabis center meets all criteria established by the MRA, and they applied before Nov. 5, they’re good.
Who benefits from this loophole in the system?
The window of opportunity was incredibly small, as the MRA began accepting applications on Nov. 1. That means there was less than a week for businesses to get into the recreational system. Applying for any sort of business license in the state requires at least $1,000 in investment.
A ‘marijuana microbusiness’ license costs $8000. This allows individuals to grow up to 150 plants and sell to individuals 21 and older. The cost of getting a license for a testing facility is $25,000.
The minority producers in Detroit were not who was able to slip in before the ban. Most local and legacy caregivers don’t have thousands of dollars to throw at a moment’s notice. If there are recreational Midwestern cannabis licenses that will be approved, they will likely be to the benefit of those already economically secure.
Minority populations, specifically black people, brought and propagated cannabis in Detroit. For the interest of fairness, they should also be who enjoys the benefits of the industry’s boom. The ban on recreational sales in Wanye county may be a very positive thing. The extra time might help give the county time to develop an adequate supply chain.
Supply chain issues already plague the state and keep prices high. Rushing into recreational will open the market up to a wider group of people, but it will hurt medical patients. Patience is always the best policy, and so as Detroiters, we might wait to see what the city is planning. The ban on recreational sales should be until at least Jan. 31st. Hopefully, this means Detroit will be able to smoothly transition into a fair and balanced recreational market. This could set a positive example for Midwestern cannabis in general.
Interview with Daisy, Local Detroit Painter
Daisy and I met to discuss the news after getting back from their art show at Oloman Cafe in Hamtramck, Michigan. As an active member of the North End community in Detroit, Daisy feels deeply for the struggle of locals within the city.
What do you think the motivation behind these policies is? Why no rec in our county? How is Michigan a unique event in Midwestern Cannabis?
A lot of the money interest in businesses that are working closely with the people who make the regulations. They’re trying to get into it through a bureaucratic way and make it harder for small businesses to open up. I think you can see that in the amount of money they’re making people pay to distribute cannabis recreationally.
I think that’s the biggest problem with Michigan in a lot of ways. There are these closed groups that can interact with the governmental systems here and create a business situation that’s fixed for them. I think those people don’t want the people of Michigan to have access and create a small business on a larger scale I think you can see that in a lot of ways in how Detroit is changing right now and all the shops in the downtown areas. I kinda think it’s like a classist thing.
What do you think that recreational cannabis laws bring to the black population of Michigan?
I think it’s a safety thing. I think a lot of people who want to distribute cannabis at a neighborhood level find a lot of conflict in doing that by having to hide their operations from the public. What happens is a lot of infighting occurs because everything is so under-regulated and pushed under the table.
How would you like regulations implemented within Midwestern Cannabis markets to be fair to minority populations?
The regulations need to be implemented in a way that allows for community-level cannabis distribution. There needs to be some way to bring the person who is going to be a caregiver and distribute that in their homes or their spaces into the industry.
Right now it’s like literacy tests for voting. It’s trying to keep people out of the system for no good reason other than exclusion.
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