Am I Prepared To Apply for a Medical Marihuana Facilities Grow License?

Thinking of starting a Medical Marihuana Grow so that you can give marijuana to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver that wants to take your product commercial on a bigger range? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, now you can do so lawfully, as long as you can successfully acquire a license from the State to do so. This could be a wonderful chance with many brand-new owners seeing incredible levels of profit and success in the market. Nevertheless, if you make this choice, you do need to make sure that you obtain a Michigan commercial grow license. Failing to do so will certainly cause your venture being, more than likely, unlawful and bring about court action that will certainly maim your business before it begins.

Unfortunately, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex and also costly process. Ask a medical marijuana attorney, and they will certainly tell you that you need to see to it that you are prepared. Let's consider the actions you will certainly have to take, the team you need to construct and the position that you may 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. The good news is that any person, an individual or a full organisation can apply for a license. Applications began in 2017, and there is presently no due date to complete the required forms. Naturally, there are certain people, who, due to the fact that they can not satisfy the minimum economic needs, or since they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their history, are averted from applying. However, presuming you do not have a disqualifying criminal conviction, and also you, or your team of financiers, satisfy the minimum financial requirements, there are two main actions to the MMFLA licensing application process. The initial step will certainly be finished whether you have a final location for your building or not. Nonetheless, if you have already selected a place before submitting your State application, something that we extremely suggest, you can complete both steps at the very same time.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is the first step, and it begins with an extensive background check. There are two sections-- 401 as well as 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 disclose as well as whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This consists of people such as the spouse of the individual and all corporate officers. This is one of the reasons that it is worth seeking advice from an MMMA attorney as it can be rather tricky to get all the details 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 also check out the histories of all of those individual's spouses also. Should anybody have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their past, or otherwise be of "good moral character," the State can deny the whole application. To put it simply, if there is one bad apple in the bunch, the State throws out the whole application. As a result, it is important to learn about the histories of the persons you have in your investment group, prior to applying for your Medical Marihuana Facilities License. There are a great deal of things that a knowledgeable attorney can do to aid you plan for your application, as well as to make certain that any kind of prospective concerns with your application are understood, divulged or prepared for before the application is submitted. Nonetheless, this isn't the only reason why an attorney will commonly be an essential and necessary hire.

Think about The Price

Before your information 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 certainly refuse to progress 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 concerns with your application that could lead to it being declined. An MMFLA lawyer can guarantee that this is the case and help you navigate any kind of difficult issues. Even more, before you can obtain State authorization for operation, you will also have to get a municipal or city approval. Each city or township will certainly also require you to complete an application as well as you will certainly need to pay an application fee there too. The application price can vary depending on what the city wants to charge, nevertheless, they can not charge more than $5,000.00. A lot of cities as well as townships are charging the maximum amount. In total, the application fees alone are most likely to be in excess of $10,000.00. That doesn't include the costs of ancillary services, such as accountants, designers, marketing experts and also other services necessary for your application to be total.

Once you have collected as well as paid the application fees, all candidates and supplemental candidates will certainly have their fingerprints taken. You might assume that if you already have had your fingerprints taken by local police this action can be avoided. Nevertheless, BMMR will not accept finger prints unless they are requested and also collected by them via the licensing procedure. You will have to go to an approved location where your fingerprints can be collected digitally as well as sent for review by the State.

Facility License

This is the 2nd step and keep in mind, if you have already picked an area to grow cannabis, you can complete this step with the first. You should be prepared to meet all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will need to have a business plan. However, that plan has to include certain things. You must have all of the parts required by the State: facility plan, security plan, marketing plan, staffing plan, technology plan, waste disposal plan (if applicable), and 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 must be located in a city or township that allows MMFLA organisations to run. The MMFLA has strict rules for individuals as well as companies planning to grow in a municipality. If you intend to grow in a municipality, it must have an ordinance that authorizes marihuana facility operations. Colloquially, the municipality has to have "opted-in" to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (list of Michigan municipalities that have opted in to MMFLA), and it needs to have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the rules and also guidelines for those facilities to run within the city or township. The full guidelines can be located in 205, but if you do have any kind of concerns you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, additionally, get your attorney to do this for you. As the application progresses, BMMR will get in touch with applicants, supplying information on any various other requirements, consisting of a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.

Accepted

Ultimately, you might obtain authorization for your license. After you are informed of this, you will need to pay for a regulatory assessment. Currently, 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 difficult to predict specifically what it will be. Nonetheless, beginning in 2019, regardless of which license you obtain, anticipate the assessment to be imposed and for that assessment to be substantial.

Verdict.

We hope this helps you make a decision whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Remember, with a lawyer by your side, this process can be much simpler, and also you will gain experienced advice on just how to proceed properly to guarantee that your application is accepted. Even after you obtain approval, legal advice is recommended to ensure you stay on top of adjustments to the law and also guidelines, and so that you can remain in compliance as well as keep your service open.

Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we specialize in helping clients obtain MMFLA licenses as well as making certain continuing compliance.

Should you choose to retain counsel to assist you on your licensing journey, give us a phone call.