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The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is standing firm on their stance that all marijuana centers that are not licensed by the State under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, will need to shut down, and will receive a cease and desist letter at that time. While the facilities are not mandated to shut down, the State Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has made clear that any facility that continues to run after receipt of the cease and desist will likely not be given a license. Additionally, the State has stated suggested Final Rules regarding Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to allow or registered qualifying patients to receive house deliveries from provisioning centers (with limitation, of course) as well as will certainly additionally allow online ordering. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were anticipating to be able to remain relevant to their patients up until 2021?
Traditional
The old for registered caregivers was pretty basic. You were allowed to grow up to twelve plants for each patient. You could have 5 patients, besides yourself. If the caregiver was also a client, they could likewise cultivate twelve plants for personal usage also. So, a caregiver could cultivate a total amount of seventy-two marihuana plants. A lot of caregivers generated far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could use for patients and personal usage. The caregivers would then sell their excess product to medical marihuana dispensaries.
Under the emergency rules, marihuana dispensaries that were running with municipal approval, but that had not obtained a State license were allowed to continue operating and purchasing from registered caregivers. Those facilities were allowed to buy caregiver overages for thirty days after getting their State license for supply. That indicated significant profits for caregivers and considerable supply for dispensaries.
After September 15, 2018
The problems for registered caregivers only starts on September 15, 2018. All State licensed centers that will remain open and operating can not buy any kind of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly banned from purchasing or offering any kind of item that is not produced by a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor that has actually had their item tested and certified by a State Licensed Safety Compliance Facility. Any State Licensed Provisioning Center that is found to have product up for sale that is not from a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, including short-term or permanent retraction of the license. Given the danger, licensed facilities are really unlikely to take the chance of purchasing from a caregiver, offered the prospective consequences.
Additionally, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to market to, even during the licensing procedure, will be shutting down. Some may continue to run, but given the State’s stance on facilities that do not comply with their cease and desist letters being looked at very unfavorably in the licensing process, the market will certainly be badly decreased, if not eliminated. As a result, caregivers will not have much choice for selling their overages, and will be restricted only to their current patients.
New Administrative Rules
A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 pertaining to the brand-new suggested final administrative rules for the regulation of medical marihuana facilities, which will become effective in November, when the emergency rules discontinue being effective. Those final proposed administrative rules allow for house delivery by a provisioning center, and will likewise permit regulated online buying. Those two things take away much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the new rules. Patients would still need them to visit the provisioning center to grab and deliver cannabis to patients that were too ill or that were handicapped and can not get to those licensed facilities to get their medicinal marijuana. With this adjustment to the administrative rules, such patients will no longer require a caregiver. They will have the ability to place an order online and have the provisioning center deliver it to them, basically getting rid of the requirement of a caregiver.
Final thought
For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to get rid of caregivers under the new administrative scheme, even prior to the intended removal in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a great deal of factors the State could be doing it, but that is of little comfort to caregivers. The bottom line is, the State is doing away with the caregiver model, and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they desire caregivers out of the marketplace as soon as possible, and they are developing rules to guarantee that takes place sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while beneficial and needed under the old Michigan Medical Marihuana Act structure, are currently going the way of the Dodo. Like everything else, the Marihuana legislations are evolving, and some things that have flourished in the past, won’t make it to see the new legalized era.