Michigan regulators have been trying to get a grip on the state’s vast network of unlicensed cannabis growers and sellers for nearly a year. But the latest move by the department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) could have the opposite effect, driving unlicensed growers back to the so-called “black market.” On Thursday, LARA issued new policy guidance barring licensed medical marijuana provisioning centers from stocking caregiver-grown cannabis, effective immediately. Instead, Michigan cannabis shops will now only accept supply from state-licensed growers and processors. Caregiver growers will still be able to sell cannabis to state-licensed growers and processors—just not sellers. But they’ll have to pay to have those products tested, first.
Rejecting Caregiver-Grown Cannabis Latest Page in Ongoing Regulatory Saga
Michigan’s transition from a largely informal medical cannabis economy to a fully regulated retail and medical industry has been, in a word, chaos. Or in the words of Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello, who has been at the center of the state’s ongoing regulatory saga, it has been “apt to sudden change, freakish, or whimsical.”
Borrello has ruled on multiple legal challenges to LARA’s attempts to shut down unlicensed dispensary operators. In every case, he’s filed injunctions to block the closures and keep dozens of unlicensed dispensaries operating. Judge Borrello’s latest ruling gave those unlicensed dispensaries a 60-day grace period, which allows them to continue operating up to two months after LARA denies their license application.
But Borrello left one thing up to LARA. Namely, the question of whether to allow caregivers to supply the licensed market. On Thursday, LARA issued guidance addressing precisely that issue. It told caregivers that they could no longer supply licensed cannabis retailers with