Shrooms Everyone?
Detroit, MI- Voters decriminalized “the personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants by adults the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority” in the November election. The measure passed with 61.08% of the vote. This was the first city in Michigan to pass an ordinance via the petitioning processes.
Last year, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids and Oakland, California, also voted to decriminalize psychedelic plants, as did voters in Washington, D.C. and in Denver in 2019. In November 2020, voters passed Oregon Ballot Measure 109, making Oregon the first state to both decriminalize psilocybin and also legalize it for therapeutic use.
Not everyone is happy about this national trend, “First marijuana, now hallucinogens and tomorrow heroin,” said Kevin Sabet, who advised three presidential administrations on drugs and now heads the group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “This is part of a strategy to legalize all drugs, and people will suffer as a result.”
Consumption Lounges Coming to Kalamazoo
This is the second set of plans for a cannabis consumption lounge that have been received by the city of Kalamazoo for the site plan review process.
The other facility is new construction proposed on Stadium Drive, which is the site of a former gas station. Gage, which owns and operates Cookies-branded cannabis stores in Kalamazoo and elsewhere, is the owner of the consumption lounge being planned on Stadium.
In May 2020, Kalamazoo approved growers, processors, retailers and consumption lounges.
MRA Issues Notification of MJ Product Recall
Lansing, MI - On November, 17th the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, sent a notice out to its “Stakeholders”. The bulletin reads as follows:
The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) has identified inaccurate and/or unreliable results of products tested by laboratories Viridis North, LLC and Viridis Laboratories, LLC.
In the interest of public health and safety, the MRA is issuing this health and safety advisory bulletin for all marijuana products tested by Viridis Laboratories, LLC (license numbers SC-000009 and AU-SC-000113) and Viridis North, LLC (license numbers SC-000014 and AU-SC-000103) except for inhalable marijuana concentrate products such as:
- Vape carts.
- Live resin.
- Distillate.
- Any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions.
The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021. All marijuana product labels are required to list the name and license number of the safety compliance facility that conducted the testing and date the product was tested.
Note: An MRA investigation is still ongoing.
Consumers who have marijuana products in their possession that meet the recall criteria may return the products to the marijuana sales location where they were purchased for proper disposal. Consumers with weakened immune systems or lung disease are at the highest risk for health-related incidents such as aspergillosis, which can impact lung function, if these potentially harmful products are consumed.
Consumers who have experienced adverse reactions after using these products should report their symptoms and product use to their physician. Consumers are requested to report any adverse product reactions to the MRA via email: MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov or via phone: 517-284-8599.
Marijuana sales locations that sold product covered by this bulletin must display this recall notice on the sales floor, visible to all customers, for 30 days from the date of this notice. Marijuana sales locations that receive adverse product reactions from consumers should report the adverse product reactions to the agency at MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov and document these reports in METRC.
Licensees with products remaining in their inventory that meet the recall criteria have the following options:
Destroy the product and provide proof of destruction: MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.
Have the product retested for the microbials compliance panel.
Send the product back to the original licensee source so they can destroy or have the product retested as a larger batch.
Licensees that opt to have product sent back or retested will need to create new METRC packages with new METRC identification numbers prior to transferring or submitting the products for testing. Additional guidance can be provided to licensees who need assistance in creating these packages by reaching out to MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.
Additional questions can be sent to the MRA’s Operations Support Section: MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.
