Gov. Rick Snyder recently signed a law that legalizes medical marijuana dispensaries.
While medical marijuana has been legal in Michigan since 2008, many dispensaries exceeded the 12-plant, five-patient limits imposed by the 2008 legalization, one of the new law’s sponsors in the Michigan House of Representatives, Rep. Mike Callton (R-Nashville), said.
The risk of closure for these violations varied by jurisdiction, with roughly 50 dispensaries operating in the Lansing area, Callton said.
The new law is meant to clear up confusion surrounding the old law.
“What (the law) does is create a framework for legitimate medical marijuana industry in Michigan,”Callton said. “This gives an opportunity for patients … to go to a licensed store front where marijuana is tested, where it is a safe place to buy it.”
The new law builds off of the 2008 legalization.
“You still have every right you had under the Medical Marijuana Act, (the law) gives you a new right,” Callton said. “You can still grow your own 12 plants, or have a caregiver that can take care of five people. You can still do that.”
The law will require licenses for those who grow, transport, test and sell medical marijuana. There is also a tracking system, Callton said.
“The tracking system would be one system that the State has through the State Police, and it would be a seed-to-sale tracking system,” Rep. Klint Kesto (R-Commerce Twp.) said.
The system will track where the medical marijuana is grown, transported — whether it’s to a lab for testing or a dispensary — and sold.
This allows everyone involved in the process to know if the medical marijuana is safe, Kesto said.
“It has consumer safety, it has patient safety, it has licensee safety and it has the government’s accountability as to what’s going on,” Kesto said.
The tracking system should also limit the black market because everything is accounted for, Kesto said.
“We have the police on board with this because it creates structure that they then monitor,” Callton said.
It also gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to get involved in a huge industry in Michigan, Callton said.
Galena Katz, owner of Krazy Katz on Grand River Avenue, said her shop will look into expanding into a medical marijuana dispensary.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure (it would increase revenue),” Katz said.
Some MSU students said they are not really affected. People who were using marijuana before didn’t care if it was legal or not, media and information sophomore Kasey Horan said.
“The people who were getting it before will just get it legally,” zoology senior Divarche Bozeman said.
It will take about a year to see the results of the law, Callton said.
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Full Article: New Law Clears The Legal Haze Over Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
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