January 23, 2019
A lot of things shifted last week in Michigan on the medical marijuana provisioning center licensing front, and prospects for the marijuana industry in general. At the prompting of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Medical Marijuana Licensing Board adopted new rules that will allow provisioning centers that still have applications in process to re-open until March 31. This move allowed dozens of places that had been forced to close down on Dec. 31 to reopen and continue operating. The new MMLB policy also allows the stores to get stock from caregivers in addition to the handful of state licensed growers.
That step brought partial relief to patients who had been affected by the medication shortage brought on by the licensing fiasco the past few weeks. But not everything is as it was.
“We have about half of what we had before we closed,” says Christina Montague, owner of the Huron View Center in Ann Arbor. Her place reopened on Jan. 17 after shutting Dec. 31, though she hopes to have a license soon. What she hopes will be the final inspection from the state is scheduled at Huron View for this week. The previous inspection called for an additional outdoor camera.
“We have always been operating within the state system and we’re just following the rules,” Montague says. “Hopefully when they have their February meeting … we’ll see.”