Thinking about starting a Medical Marihuana Grow so that you can supply cannabis to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver that wants to take your product commercial on a larger scale? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, now you can do so legally, so long as you can successfully obtain a license from the State to do so. This could be a great opportunity with several brand-new owners seeing remarkable degrees of revenue and success in the market. Nevertheless, if you make this choice, you do need to make sure that you get a Michigan commercial grow license. Failing to do so will certainly cause your endeavor being, more than likely, illegal as well as bring about court action that will certainly paralyze your service before it starts.
Regrettably, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex as well as costly process. Ask a medical marijuana lawyer, and also they will certainly tell you that you need to make sure that you are prepared. Let's look at the actions you will certainly have to take, the team you need to build and also the position that you could find yourself in.
Who Can Apply?
The very first question to ask yourself is whether or not you are eligible to apply for a Medical Marihuana Facilities license. Fortunately is that anybody, an individual or a full business can apply for a license. Applications started in 2017, and there is presently no target date to finish the necessary forms. Certainly, there are certain individuals, that, since they can not fulfill the minimum economic demands, or due to the fact that they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their background, are precluded from applying. Nonetheless, thinking you do not have a disqualifying criminal conviction, as well as you, or your group of financiers, satisfy the minimal financial needs, there are 2 primary actions to the MMFLA licensing application process. The very first step will certainly be completed whether you have a final location for your building or not. Nevertheless, if you have actually already selected a place before sending your State application, something that we extremely recommend, you can finish both steps at the exact same time.
Pre-Qualification
Pre-qualification is the primary step, and it starts with an extensive background check. There are two sections-- 401 and also 404 of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (M.C.L. 333.27401 et seq.) to refer to when establishing who you need to legally reveal as well as whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This consists of individuals such as the spouse of the individual and also all corporate officers. This is among the reasons that it is worth consulting with an MMMA lawyer as it can be rather difficult to get all the information correct. The State will want to do a deep dive into the backgrounds of not only all of the "interested parties," or members/owners of your cannabis organisation, but the State will certainly also check out the backgrounds of every one of those person's spouses too. Should anyone have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their past, or otherwise be of "good moral character," the State can deny the entire application. In other words, if there is one bad apple in the bunch, the State throws out the whole application. Consequently, it is very important to learn about the histories of the individuals you have in your investment group, prior to applying for your Medical Marihuana Facilities License. There are a great deal of things that a skilled lawyer can do to assist you prepare for your application, and to ensure that any type of potential problems with your application are understood, divulged or prepared for before the application is submitted. However, this isn't the only reason a lawyer will typically be an essential and necessary hire.
Think about The Cost
Before your details can be assessed by an expert from the Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation (BMMR), you need to pay a $6000 fee for your application. BMMR will refuse to move forward with your application until this has been paid completely. As well as being costly, this fee is non-refundable so you want to make certain that there are no issues with your application that can cause it being rejected. An MMFLA attorney can guarantee that this is the case and help you navigate any kind of tricky problems. Better, before you can obtain State approval for operation, you will certainly also need to obtain a municipal or city authorization. Each city or township will certainly also need you to complete an application as well as you will need to pay an application fee there also. The application cost can range depending on what the city wants to charge, however, they can not charge more than $5,000.00. The majority of cities as well as townships are charging the maximum amount. In total, the application charges alone are most likely to be in excess of $10,000.00. That doesn't consist of the costs of ancillary services, such as accounting professionals, designers, marketing professionals and also various other services required for your application to be full.
Once you have gathered as well as paid the application fees, all applicants and supplemental applicants will certainly have their finger prints taken. You might think that if you currently have had your fingerprints taken by local law enforcement this step can be avoided. Nonetheless, BMMR will certainly not accept finger prints unless they are asked for as well as collected by them through the licensing procedure. You will need to go to an approved place where your fingerprints can be collected digitally and also submitted for evaluation by the State.
Facility License
This is the 2nd step and remember, if you have already selected an area to grow marijuana, you can complete this step with the first. You should be prepared to satisfy all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will certainly need to have a business plan. Nonetheless, that plan has to include certain things. You must have all of the components called for by the State: facility plan, security plan, marketing plan, staffing plan, technology plan, waste disposal plan (if applicable), as well as a record keeping plan. There are specific minimum requirements stated in the Administrative Rules that regulate MMFLA facilities, with which you must show your business is in compliance.
Your facility has to be located in a city or township that allows MMFLA organisations to run. The MMFLA has strict regulations for people and companies preparing to grow in a municipality. If you want to grow in a community, it has to have an ordinance that authorizes marihuana facility operations. Colloquially, the municipality should have "opted-in" to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (list of Michigan municipalities that have opted in to MMFLA), and also it should have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the rules and also standards for those centers to run within the city or township. The complete guidelines can be found in 205, however if you do have any inquiries you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, additionally, get your legal representative to do this for you. As the application progresses, BMMR will certainly get in touch with candidates, giving details on any kind of various other demands, consisting of a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.
Authorized
Ultimately, you may gain approval for your license. After you are notified of this, you will certainly need to pay for a regulatory assessment. Presently, the regulatory assessments for 2018 are as follows:
Safety Compliance Facility and Secured Transporters-- $0.00.
Class A Grow License-- $10,000.
Class B Grow License-- $48,000.00.
Class C Grow License-- $48,000.00.
Processor and Provisioning Center-- $48,000.00.
Likely, the State will establish an across the board equivalent regulatory assessment for all licenses in 2019. Regulatory assessments are subject to change each year, so it is impossible to predict specifically what it will be. Nonetheless, starting in 2019, despite which license you acquire, expect the assessment to be imposed as well as for that assessment to be substantial.
Verdict.
We hope this helps you determine whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Remember, with an attorney at hand, this process can be far easier, as well as you will obtain expert advice on just how to proceed appropriately to make sure that your application is accepted. Even after you get approval, legal guidance is recommended to guarantee you stay on top of adjustments to the legislation and also policies, and so that you can continue to be in compliance and also keep your company open.
Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we focus on helping customers obtain MMFLA licenses and ensuring continuing compliance.
Should you choose to retain counsel to help you on your licensing journey, give us a phone call.
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