After September 15, Can I Still be a Caregiver?

The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is persevering 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 centers are not mandated to shut down, the State Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has explained that any facility that continues to operate after receipt of the cease and desist will very likely not be granted a license. Additionally, the State has set forth suggested Final Rules concerning Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to permit or registered qualifying clients to obtain house shipments from provisioning centers (with limitation, naturally) and also will certainly also allow online purchasing. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were anticipating to be able to continue to be relevant to their patients until 2021?

Traditional Model

The old for registered caregivers was rather easy. You were enabled to cultivate up to twelve plants for each patient. You could have five patients, besides yourself. If the caregiver was also a client, they could also cultivate twelve plants for personal usage too. So, a caregiver could cultivate a total amount of seventy-two marihuana plants. Most caregivers produced far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could make use of for clients and personal use. 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 received a State license were permitted to continue operating as well as purchasing from registered caregivers. Those centers were allowed to purchase caregiver overages for thirty days after receiving their State license for stock. That suggested considerable profits for caregivers and also substantial supply for dispensaries.

After September 15, 2018

The problems for registered caregivers only begins on September 15, 2018. All State licensed facilities that will continue to be open and operating can not buy any type of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly prohibited from getting or offering any product that is not produced by a State Licensed Grower or Processor that has 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, consisting of temporary or irreversible revocation of the license. Given the danger, licensed facilities are very unlikely to risk purchasing from a caregiver, offered the potential effects.

Additionally, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to sell to, even during the licensing procedure, will certainly be closing down. Some might continue to run, but given the State's stance on facilities that do not follow their cease and desist letters being looked at very adversely in the licensing process, the market will certainly be significantly lessened, if not eliminated. Because of this, caregivers will certainly not have much recourse for selling their overages, and will certainly be limited only to their current clients.

New Administrative Rules

A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 regarding the 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 recommended administrative rules allow for house delivery by a provisioning center, and will also permit regulated online ordering. Those 2 things remove much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the new guidelines. Clients would still need them to go to the provisioning center to get and deliver cannabis to patients that were too ill or who were handicapped and can not reach those licensed centers to get their medical marijuana. With this change to the administrative rules, such clients will no longer need a caregiver. They will be able to place an order online and have the provisioning facility deliver it to them, essentially removing the need of a caregiver.

Conclusion

For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to get rid of caregivers under the brand-new administrative plan, even before the planned removal in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a lot of factors the State could be doing it, but that is of little comfort to caregivers. The bottom line is, the State is eliminating the caregiver , and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they desire caregivers out of the marketplace asap, and they are establishing regulations to make certain that takes place sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while beneficial and required under the old Michigan Medical Marihuana Act structure, are now going the way of the Dodo. Like everything else, the Marihuana laws are evolving, and some things that have prospered in the past, won't make it to see the new legalized era.