State licensure is slow, communities unsure how to react,
some embrace, some battle, take a look at our Capitol.
The medical marihuana regulatory system and issuance of licenses is something that continues to be a hot topic throughout the state of Michigan. It seems that the majority of Michiganders can’t watch the nightly news or read their local paper without seeing mention of it several times a month. The first licenses were to be issued at the last BMMR meeting and it was canceled just days prior. Since it was cancelled, they’ve issued several bulletins about packaging, Ohio certifications, and Hazardous materials, yet not one license.Conversations in local municipalities about opting in or out are still happening all over the state. There are communities like Bay City who have not only opted in, but are approving licenses at a rapid rate, being viewed one of the communities grabbing the reigns and leading by example. There are other communities opting out, some wanting nothing to do with any of the facilities, while others are taking a wait and see approach, wanting to see how it goes in the municipalities that allow them first. Then there are the contentious communities that seem to try to move forward only to be then be pushed back. Examples of this can be seen throughout the state. A meeting scheduled in Cadillac to discuss opting in or out with the puble is coming up, a year after Don Koshmider was continually trying to educate the council, they are now having the discussion while he sits in prison for medical marihuana. Kalamazoo township opted in, then a recall effort was made on the council members that voted to opt in, so the opt in has now been rescinded. The City of Detroit has two ordinances on the ballot this November to decide between the cities draft, and the peoples draft that was done via petition initiative. Lets not forget Lansing, a community with an opt in ordinance on the books, provisioning centers open, and a petition initiative to throw out the current ordinance that’s currently turned in enough signatures, but the signatures are being contested in a court battle. For the record,
Lansing’s petition is because they want more provisioning centers than the current ordinance allows!
Lets take a closer look at Lansing. The ordinance allows for 20 provisioning centers and an additional 5 if needed at a later date. In a city with more than double that number already, the majority of them were forced to closer their doors when they either couldn’t meet one of the states many criteria, or they were denied at a local level for one of any number of reasons, including a point system designed to choose the right applicants. That caused many to get a petition initiative going to toss that ordinance in favor of one allowing more. The needed amount of signatures was a little more that 4000 and more than 6000 were turned in. I spoke with Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope who explained many signatures were challenged and thrown out for being duplicates, non Lansing residents, or out of state circulators didn’t fill them out accordingly. Much of this is being challenged in court by the Let Lansing Vote committee. Mr Swope stated the city had asked for a summary disposition in court to have the case thrown out which was denied. So while the case moves forward, Lansing shops are open under an ordinance that may or may not stay. Mr. Swope stated the reason for the cap and the number was a number of reasons, they want a well regulated industry, other business owners were concerned about too many shops in business corridors, and that even some dispensary owners were for the caps. After a committee couldn’t come to an agreement on the language, a council member brought her own version that was basically adopted by the council with the cap. One thing I thought readers would want to know, where did the numbers 20 to 25 come from for the cap? Mr. Swope stated the city had consulted with a company in the industry, Weedmaps, who advised them that a cap is important to regulation, and that if your cap is too low, you’ll fuel the black market, and if its too high, its hard for shops to stay profitable which encourages them to cut corners and/or violate laws. The number suggested was 1 or 2 shops for every 10,000 people. Lansing has a population of 116,000 so they’re in at the high side of that suggestion. Mr. Swope stated 20 to 25 is probably too high for Lansing, but being that they’ll serve the greater area surrounding Lansing, it should be sufficient.
I spoke with Cannabis attorney Joshua Covert in Lansing and his personal take was quite different. First thing to take note of, I had to wait around for him because he needed CBD isolate and it wasn’t as easy as running to the nearest shop to get. He had to go up and down Cedar St, only to leave empty handed because they didn’t have any or it was over $60 a gram. He finally found a half gram for $20 and it was the last half gram in the shop. Before the shops were all shut down, Mr. Covert stated he could buy a whole gram at any number of shops for $20 to $30. In fact he noticed it was on sale for only $15 a gram at Lake Effect in Portage, Mi. He stated in his mind, that “a low cap was set to appease the anti cannabis group, who’s the minority in Lansing, and to ensure success for a limited group of people”. Mr. Covert stated one of his clients shops had an application denied, they appealed the denial and the hearing officer recommended an appeal hearing. He stated Mr. Swope held onto the recommendation for a month, then approved the appeal only to deny the application on points the same day. “My opinion is that the city is denying the high volume, low margin, for patient shops, in favor of the high margin for profit minded businesses. All the places providing cheap affordable medicine were shut down!” Covert was quoted saying. He also stated the Lansing ordinance as written could possibly cause an unfair advantage to Lansing businesses compared to businesses in other communities with the way the current ordinance is worded. “The way they have co locations and licenses set up subjects them to the secure transport and other expenses businesses that set up in other communities won’t be subjected to.”, according to Covert.
Got Meds is a provisioning center that was open for several years, was a staple in the Lansing Medical Marihuana scene, won Cannabis awards in multiple events, and had a huge patient base, but didn’t make the cut in the application process in Lansing. According to Mike Barron, marketing and advertising consultant for Got Meds, the company had everything to pass state licensure but they got pointed out in an extremely restrictive and hazy application process. “Got Meds received zero points for contributions to the community yet Got Meds donated all the lumber and labor to have a fence built for a community park” Barron said. “The company was an online website, just an idea by people back in 2011, basically a concept, it became brick and mortar in 2013, and was closed March 15th, 2018. They re-opened on May 19th after the cities request to have the initiative lawsuit thrown out, confident that the petition would win and the ordinance would have to be redone, knowing their application to the state was in by Feb. 15th and their denial locally was under an ordinance that would soon be invalid. On May 21st Lansing police issued them a ticket, and they were issued the same ticket the following day for being open. They then closed again and have since had both tickets tossed in court. “My thought is this, rather than working with the business owners and community, they seem to be working with a select few. And rather than being reasonable, they’re spending a lot of money fighting what the majority want. There was 85 applicants and each one paid $5000 to apply. If you’re denied, you get half of it back so their expenses of processing the app are covered. But if this ordinance gets tossed, they have to refund all of it. Then they lost all that money and they’re spending money fighting this in court. They spent money on an outside firm to go through applicants and they spent money on an outside firm to go through signatures.” Barron stated. Upon hearing the concerns of other businesses in the corridors and concerns of too many shops around them, Barron stated that the businesses around Got Meds always told him they were busier ever since Got Meds opened, and that other provisioning centers opened up in the same area, filling what had been vacant buildings for quite some time. “Something is fishy over here, all these shops are put under all this scrutiny and these point scoring systems here in Lansing, held to all kinds of standards other businesses aren’t held to here in Lansing. Just take a look at Let Lansing Vote, some of the signatures thrown out were because the circulator was from St. Louis, Missouri, an out of state collector, the clerk invalidated those claiming he filled the forms out wrong, turns out the clerk was wrong and those ones should count and we only missed by less than 50, and that was several pages of signatures incorrectly thrown out.”
One thing is for certain in Lansing, nothing is certain. Mike Barron, Josh Covert, and Chris Swope all agreed on one thing, if Let Lansing Vote is successful, there will be no ordinance in Lansing at that point and Lansing would be considered a city that hasn’t opted in and all current shops open under the current ordinance and emergency rules would have to close. Michiganders passed medical marihuana in 2007, 10 plus years later, the struggle is still ongoing. Patience is a virtue, especially when dealing with POLITICS.
