Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Michigan

Six months after recreational use legalization, the revenues from recreational sales overtook medical sales in the middle of 2020. Supply shortages and high prices have not dampened the cannabis wave in Michigan. Michigan State University on behalf of the state Marijuana Regulatory Agency, looked at the potential economic benefits of the state’s adult-use cannabis program and researchers found that "as the market evolves over the next few years, marijuana sales will reach around $3 billion per year and the industry will create about 13,500 jobs. Tax revenue from legal sales is estimated to hit about $495.7 million on an annual basis.", according to MarijuanaMoment.

Michigan took the question of legalization of cannabis for adult recreational use to the ballot through Proposal 1 in November 2018. 56% of voters approved it and adult recreational cannabis became a reality on December 6th 2018. Michigan became the first state in the US Midwest to legalize recreational use after the national prohibition that was put in place in the 1930s. Legalization means that home growing of up to 12 plants is allowed. An individual can possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis in public and 10 ounces at home in addition to the growing plants.

Initially with legalization, there were no stores from where individuals could buy cannabis. This hurdle was worked around through sharing and gifting of cannabis which I think is the perfect way for the plant and its users. Some businesses got into the idea of working around the retail restrictions by selling their products at a slight premium and gifting small amounts of cannabis along with the product purchase. Eventually retail outlets opened. The first cannabis consumption lounge called the Rec Center where adults could smoke their cannabis in a social setting was opened. Alcohol was not allowed.

As a part of this journey to legalization a number of things happened. The state set up its cannabis regulatory body in the form of the Bureau of Marijuana Regulation initially. This was replaced by the new Marijuana Regulatory Agency which would operate under the umbrella of the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Its operation will be paid for with fees for assessments of cannabis businesses including licenses for cultivation, testing labs, processing, distribution, retail outlets and micro-businesses and was scheduled to begin functioning on April 30, 2019.

Opposition to legalization came in the form of a number of organizations most notably from the fastidious sounding Healthy and Productive Michigan which received around $1 million from the national opponent group to cannabis, Smart Approaches to Marijuana. It also received $100,000 from Dow Chemical Corporation an obvious anti-cannabis industry whose contributions to world wide health are well known. Using the funds it received, Healthy and Productive Michigan launched a set of television ads before the election stating that cannabis legalization would unleash cannabis with unlimited potency on the public in typical propaganda style. These ads were ridiculed by medical experts and cannabis advocates based on which they were subsequently pulled down from television channels.

The voters decision to legalize cannabis for adult use ended the struggle over many decades by many notable personalities including the poet John Sinclair who spent many years in prison for cannabis and about whom John Lennon had written a song. John Sinclair has now opened a cannabis cafe in Detroit as a place where people can finally peacefully indulge in their beloved plant without the harassment of law enforcement.

At least 35 US states have legalized cannabis for medical use so far. The federal US government however continues to keep cannabis in the Schedule 1 list of banned substances saying that it has no medicinal value. The list of US states that have legalized adult recreational cannabis is available here. All these states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, aimed specifically at improving public health, ensuring equity, reducing crime, decreasing the black market, improving law enforcement, reforming criminal justice, improving the economy, agriculture and industry, to name just a few reasons.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

'The Bay Mills Indian Community in the Upper Peninsula is the first tribal community in Michigan to legalize marijuana for adult use.

“Our tribal government does not necessarily promote the use of marijuana, but we believe that criminalizing it is bad policy,” said Tribal Chairman Bryan Newland in a statement. “Our new tribal law ensures that people on our lands are no longer at risk of prosecution for actions that are lawful everywhere else in Michigan.”

There are 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan. As sovereign governments, Native American tribes have the right to set their own laws on marijuana, according to the National Congress of American Indians.'
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/04/first-native-american-community-in-michigan-legalizes-marijuana.html

'The supply shortage is also reflected in prices: The average retail price for an ounce of flower in the adult-use market was nearly $410 in May, according to the latest monthly report from Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA).

In the medical market, the average price for an ounce was about $251.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/fast-growing-michigan-recreational-market-faces-tight-supply-few-municipal-opt-ins/

'According to MLive.com, 308 of the 792 cities and townships that passed Proposal 1 in November have prohibited recreational marijuana businesses.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/local-recreational-marijuana-bans-in-michigan-could-hurt-legal-sales/

'Marijuana activist and poet John Sinclair, although older now at 78, is no less the rebel he was in 1969.

“I knew they were going to be after me, but you can’t let them determine your life,” he said of his 1971 release from prison for possession of two joints.

About 9:49 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, at Arbors Wellness in Ann Arbor with a happy line of hundreds wrapped around the block, Sinclair made what was likely the first-ever licensed recreational retail marijuana sale in Michigan.'
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2019/12/activist-and-poet-john-sinclair-among-first-to-purchase-legal-recreational-marijuana-in-michigan-50-years-after-his-historic-arrest.html

'The analysis, which conducted by Michigan State University on behalf of the state Marijuana Regulatory Agency, looked at the potential economic benefits of the state’s adult-use cannabis program. Researchers found that as the market evolves over the next few years, marijuana sales will reach around $3 billion per year and the industry will create about 13,500 jobs. Tax revenue from legal sales is estimated to hit about $495.7 million on an annual basis.

The researchers also took into account all of the ancillary businesses that will be impacted as the cannabis market grows and found that the “total economic impact is estimated to be $7.85 billion with a total impact on employment of 23,700.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/michigan-marijuana-market-maturing-rapidly-but-faces-barriers-to-growth-state-report-finds/

'Last week (5/4-5/10), Michiganders shelled out $7,913,328 on recreational cannabis products.

That’s the biggest sales week in the adult use industry’s brief history in the state.'
https://www.michiganradio.org/post/sales-soaring-recreational-marijuana-michigan

' Six months into its existence, Michigan’s recreational marijuana industry hit a new milestone last week, exceeding medical marijuana in weekly sales for the first time ever.

As of now, both medical and recreational sales have seen a huge increase in average weekly sales since December. Weekly medical sales have nearly doubled, and weekly recreational sales are up more than 800%. While medical marijuana sales totaled $9.97 million between June 8 and June 14, recreational marijuana saw $10.02 million in sales.'
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/06/michigan-recreational-marijuana-hits-milestone-surpasses-medical-marijuana-weekly-sales-in-upward-ascent.html