After deciding to start a Michigan Cannabis business, one of the crucial next steps is choosing the right corporate structure for your business. To make this decision, it’s important to consider your business strategy, the complexity of creating and maintaining a particular corporate structure, and the tax implications of that structure. Choosing between a C-Corporation, S-Corporation or Limited Liability Company (LLC) should be done on a case-by=case basis because each business entity type is unique and this decision should be tailored to your specific situation.

As one of his final moves in office, former Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill that amended sections of the MMFLA. The amendments were signed on December 28th and took effect on January 1st. The Senate Bills 1262 and 1263 effect specifically the application process of the MMFLA. In as broad a sense as possible these bills make the licensing process more practical for entities, companies, and corporations that have multiple members. Please hold your applause until the end—it’s not all good news.

If you are looking to enter the Michigan cannabis industry, the first step will likely be to apply for a medical marijuana license. Except for microbusiness licenses and 100 plants recreational marijuana grow licenses, all Michigan recreational cannabis licenses first require that you obtain a Michigan medical marijuana license first. Below is an overview of the Michigan medical marijuana licensing process.

LARA recently released new guidelines for safety and compliance testing of marijuana and marijuana infused products. The first thing that jumped off the page in our reading is LARA’s designating this document as a living document. This means that these guidelines can, and likely will, be updated by LARA as the Medical Marijuana program continues to be developed. This article will be a brief summary of the new regulations and the procedures associated with the recently published LARA guidelines.

“Where can I put my money?” is one of the most prevalent questions in the cannabis industry. As licensed cannabis business attorneys our clients ask us this all the time. In the past several institutions, primarily credit unions, had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to accepting money from the cannabis industry, which meant that your money was not really welcome there but no one at the institution asked you for the source. This cycle has led to many cannabis business clients to “credit union hop”, which is where they would open up an account, have it closed when the credit union found out they were in the cannabis industry, and then move on to another credit union. While this was not an ideal solution, it was one of the only ways to have a business account for everything from payroll to paying taxes…and you better believe us when we say you have to pay those taxes.

For those who aren’t familiar with its history and past uses, hemp is an incredibly versatile product that can be used to produce paper products, oils, linens, fabrics, mesh, rope, and plastic substitutes. Hemp is also considered a “superfood” by many and can be used to cost effectively produce CBD. It was previously grown throughout the U.S. due to its incredible versatility. However, after passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, commercial hemp production began a precipitous decline, with the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 being the final death knell. Nonetheless, hemp production is making a comeback here in the U.S., and as we will explain below, Michigan is poised to be on the forefront of the commercial hemp resurgence.

If you are like us, you were probably glued to election results on Tuesday, frantically refreshing your computer or phone, flipping through channels, or listening to the radio. If you did any of that then you already know Michigan just became the next state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

As more and more prequalified cannabis growers are looking to build a licensed marijuana grow facility in Michigan, or are seeking to expand their facilities to include a MRTMA adult-use grower license, building a cost-effective grow facility is not an easy task. Some of the best MMJ grow facilities in Michigan are often quickly snapped up by real estate speculators, sometimes before a municipality decides to even “opt-in” to the MMFLA.  As a Michigan cannabis business lawyer, I’ve represented several of these real estate speculators, who use their advanced political knowledge, deep pockets, and even a bit of guess work, to tie up the best Michigan cannabis grow facility properties.

In this age of advancing technology, social medial has become an essential part of our day-to-day lives. It influences the service providers we choose—from MMJ business lawyers to cannabis safety testing companies, to the products we buy and the places we buy them from. From food to activities to medical cannabis, social media has informed the decisions we make and even how we see the world. Statistics show that a substantial majority of adults in America are using social media daily.

By now you’ve probably heard of Proposal 1, which will be on the ballot this November (also referred to as the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act. Proposal 1 is hoping to make Michigan the next state to decriminalize the sale and use of marijuana for adults over 21. According to the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (RMLA), the aim of this initiative is to make Michigan a national leader in smart-adult-use marijuana laws.

As practicing CBD and Hemp Attorneys, “it depends” is an all-to-common answer for questions involving CBD and medical marijuana. However, this article will be an in depth analysis of the current state of affairs with regard to CBD production and sale in Michigan and is meant to provide more context to this all-to-common attorney answer.

Dialing back previous guidance that gave temporary operators until December 15h to obtain an MMFLA license, LARA released guidance moving the temporary authorization deadline forward to October 31st, 2018. The deadline had just been extended till December 15th for certain temporary operators that had gotten their facility application in before July 15th, which was later subject to a restraining order allowing all temporary operators to stay open past the September 15th deadline. It is likely that many of temporary operators that would have been affected by LARA’s last guidance on this matter will be the ones who are affected by this latest change in guidance.

The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs released a new set of draft rules to replace the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act (“MMFLA”) Emergency Rules. While in most cases the proposed rules are in line with the Emergency Rules, there were some substantial, and some subtle, differences between the two.

Why have the bigger players stayed away? As we discussed in a previous article, part of the reason may be the Marijuana micro-business concept that is part of the recreational marijuana ballot initiative. But this doesn’t explain it all, as surely at least one of these publicly traded companies would dip their toes into the Michigan cannabis market.  The market is simply too big and too lucrative for this to be the sole explanation.

Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) recently put out an advisory bulletin explaining the importance of processing safe, edible medical marihuana products. This advisory was put out to help guide Michigan Cannabis businesses looking to obtain a processor license under Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA). The advisory sets forth guidelines for the production of edible Marijuana products in Michigan.

Understanding what can be done with a commercial cannabis license under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA) is crucial for those who are interested in becoming a part of Michigan’s cannabis industry.

The August 9th, 2018 meeting of the Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation Licensing Board was mostly in line with previous meetings. Once again, the biggest issue facing MMFLA applicants was their failure to disclose material items on their medical marijuana application. Since this same issue seems to come up at every licensing board meeting, I thought it should be the subject of its own article.

Like nearly all industries, the commercial cannabis business has its own lingo and way of speaking. If you talk to a cannabis industry veteran, you may notice they almost never say “weed”, “tree”, “ganja”, “reefer”, or any number of slang terms for marijuana.  They will almost always refer to it as marijuana or cannabis. In general, cannabis industry professionals generally avoid using all of the street slang that has developed over the years, instead using more scientific or technical terms for marijuana and cannabis. For instance, despite the fact that there are lots of searches for “420 lawyers” or “420 attorneys”, I’ve never heard anyone in the industry ever use either term. The same goes for terms like “blunts”, “spliffs” or similar terms. My entirely unofficial general rule is this—if a 19 year old stoner would say it among their friends, a cannabis business professional probably wouldn’t.

The MMFLA application for Michigan medical marihuana facility licensing is both intricate and detailed. The MMFLA application is divided into two parts—the prequalification step and the facility licensing step. The pre-qualification step is perhaps the hardest and most time-consuming hurdle to overcome when trying to obtain an MMFLA license.  While LARA officials initially stated that the whole MMFLA licensing process will take no more than four months—they appeared to have backed down from this statement. Instead of the whole process taking four months, just the prequalification step is taking certain MMFLA applicants more than four month.

Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs officially added eleven new conditions to the list of debilitating medical conditions that qualify for medical marijuana treatment in Michigan.  These new additions come nearly a decade after the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was enacted. This announcement reiterates the state’s commitment to its Medical Marihuana program, which could be put in flux by the recreational legalization ballot measure this fall.