Michigan Recreational Cannabis Sales Begin in December

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]F[/dropcap]or Michigan residents, the wait to purchase legal cannabis is finally over as of Dec. 1. According to Mlive.com, officials announced this Wednesday that cannabis will be legal come December.

Any businesses currently seeking to cultivate more than 1,000 plants, sell cannabis or process cannabis will have to abide by the state’s new licensing rules. Already-existing medical businesses will be able to transfer up to half their inventory to recreational sales as long as it has already been approved for the medical market.

“This approach will allow for a transition to the adult-use market as we estimate that there will be around a dozen or so licensees who would be eligible on Dec. 1,” Marijuana Regulatory Agency spokesman David Harns told MLive. “Similar to the medical market, we expect it to be a slow build-out as the production of plants and products increases. This will create an environment where businesses can supply the market as quickly as possible.”

Harns noted that the plan has always been to allow for a bridge between recreational and medical markets. “We continued to watch how the medical supply was looking and asked ourselves what was the best way to allow access to the adult use market,” he added. “By only allowing a transfer of 50 percent, it will keep production and sales on the medical side moving as well. Businesses will make decisions to move products where the demand exists, including the non-flower products that are currently in abundance.”

More importantly, Harns told Mlive.com how excited he was to see Michigan finally rolling our a recreational cannabis date. “We’re stoked,” Hishmeh said. “The whole team is stoked. Literally, we just got out of a group meeting with management and retail trying to properly prepare for this so that we’re over-prepared.” 

Michigan has always been a state that is careful about substance laws. The area recently recalled cannabis products that contain pesticides, and they were one of the first states to ban flavored e-cigarettes. It makes sense that state officials are thinking about already being smart about a cannabis legal structure.