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

Considering beginning a Medical Marihuana Grow to ensure that you can provide cannabis to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver that wishes 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 might be a wonderful chance with several brand-new owners seeing significant levels of revenue and success in the market. Nevertheless, if you make this choice, you do need to see to it that you get a Michigan commercial grow license. Failing to do so will certainly result in your venture being, more than likely, unlawful and bring about court activity that will certainly paralyze your company before it begins.

However, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex and also expensive process. Ask a medical marijuana attorney, as well as they will certainly tell you that you need to ensure that you are prepared. Let's take a look at the actions you will need to take, the team you need to construct and the position that you might find yourself in.

Who Can Apply?

The very first inquiry 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 started in 2017, and also there is currently no due date to complete the necessary forms. Certainly, there are specific people, who, because they can not meet the minimal economic demands, or due to the fact that they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their history, are averted from applying. Nevertheless, assuming you do not have a disqualifying criminal conviction, and also you, or your team of financiers, fulfill the minimum economic demands, there are 2 main steps to the MMFLA licensing application process. The initial step will be completed whether you have a final location for your structure or not. Nevertheless, if you have already selected a location prior to submitting your State application, something that we highly advise, you can finish both actions at the same time.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is the first step, and it begins with an extensive background check. There are 2 sections-- 401 and also 404 of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (M.C.L. 333.27401 et seq.) to refer to when determining who you need to legally divulge and also whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This includes individuals such as the spouse of the individual and all corporate officers. This is among the reasons it is worth talking to an MMMA lawyer as it can be rather challenging 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 company, but the State will also check out the backgrounds of all of those individual's spouses too. Should any person have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their past, or not be of "good moral character," the State can deny the entire application. Simply put, if there is one bad apple in the bunch, the State tosses out the entire application. For that reason, it is necessary to learn about the histories of the individuals you have in your investment group, before applying for your Medical Marihuana Facilities License. There are a lot of things that an experienced lawyer can do to help you prepare for your application, and to guarantee that any type of possible problems with your application are known, divulged or prepared for before the application is submitted. Nonetheless, this isn't the only reason why a lawyer will typically be a vital and needed hire.

Take into consideration The Cost

Before your information can be reviewed by an expert from the Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation (BMMR), you need to pay a $6000 cost for your application. BMMR will certainly reject to progress with your application until this has been paid completely. In addition to being costly, this fee is non-refundable so you want to see to it that there are no concerns with your application that might result in it being rejected. An MMFLA attorney can make certain that this is the case and help you navigate any difficult concerns. Additionally, before you can obtain State authorization for operation, you will also have to obtain a municipal or city approval. Each city or township will certainly likewise require you to finish an application and also you will have to pay an application fee there also. The application expense can vary depending on what the city wants to charge, nevertheless, they can not charge greater than $5,000.00. The majority of cities and also 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, marketers and various other solutions needed for your application to be complete.

When you have gathered and also paid the application fees, all applicants and supplemental applicants will certainly have their finger prints taken. You might assume that if you currently have had your fingerprints taken by local law enforcement this action can be missed. However, BMMR will decline finger prints unless they are requested and collected by them with the licensing process. You will certainly need to go to an approved place where your finger prints can be collected digitally and also sent for evaluation by the State.

Facility License

This is the second step and keep in mind, if you have already selected a place to grow cannabis, you can complete this step with the first. You need to be prepared to fulfill all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will need to have a business plan. Nevertheless, that plan should include certain things. You must have every one of the parts needed by the State: facility plan, security plan, marketing plan, staffing plan, technology plan, waste disposal plan (if applicable), and also a record keeping plan. There are specific minimum requirements set forth in the Administrative Rules that regulate MMFLA facilities, with which you must show your business is in compliance.

Your facility needs to be located in a city or township that allows MMFLA businesses to run. The MMFLA has strict policies for people and also organisations preparing to grow in a municipality. If you want to grow in a municipality, it has to have an ordinance that authorizes marihuana facility operations. Colloquially, the municipality needs to have "opted-in" to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (list of Michigan municipalities that have opted in to MMFLA), and also it must have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the rules as well as guidelines for those facilities to operate within the city or township. The complete guidelines can be located in 205, however if you do have any kind of concerns you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, conversely, get your lawyer to do this for you. As the application progresses, BMMR will speak to candidates, supplying info on any other needs, including a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.

Accepted

Finally, you might acquire approval for your license. After you are notified of this, you will need to pay for a regulatory assessment. Presently, 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 yearly, so it is difficult to anticipate precisely what it will be. Nevertheless, beginning in 2019, despite which license you acquire, expect the assessment to be imposed as well as for that assessment to be significant.

Conclusion.

We hope this helps you decide whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Keep in mind, with a legal representative on your side, this process can be far simpler, and you will obtain experienced guidance on just how to proceed properly to make sure that your application is approved. Even after you acquire approval, legal advice is suggested to guarantee you stay on top of modifications to the legislation and policies, and so that you can continue to be in compliance and keep your business open.

Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we concentrate on helping clients acquire MMFLA licenses and ensuring continuing compliance.

Should you decide to retain counsel to help you on your licensing journey, give us a call.