The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is standing firm on their position that all marijuana centers that are not licensed by the State under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, will have to shut down, and will receive a cease and desist letter at that time. While the centers are not mandated to close down, the State Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has made clear 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 stated proposed Final Rules regarding Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to enable or registered qualifying patients to obtain house deliveries from provisioning centers (with restriction, certainly) as well as will additionally allow online ordering. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were anticipating to be able to remain relevant to their patients till 2021?
Traditional Model
The old model for registered caregivers was pretty basic. You were allowed to cultivate up to twelve plants for each client. You could have five clients, other than yourself. If the caregiver was also a client, they could additionally grow twelve plants for personal use as well. So, a caregiver could grow an overall of seventy-two marihuana plants. Many caregivers created far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could utilize for patients and individual use. The caregivers would then sell their excess product to medical marihuana dispensaries.
Under the emergency rules, marihuana dispensaries that were running with municipal authorization, but that had not obtained a State license were allowed to continue running and also buying from registered caregivers. Those facilities were permitted to acquire caregiver excess for thirty days after receiving their State license for supply. That suggested considerable revenues for caregivers as well as significant supply for dispensaries.
After September 15, 2018
The issues for registered caregivers only starts on September 15, 2018. All State licensed facilities that will remain open and operating can not buy any kind of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly forbidden from buying or offering any kind of 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 available that is not from a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, consisting of short-term or irreversible retraction of the license. Given the risk, licensed facilities are extremely unlikely to risk buying from a caregiver, offered the potential effects.
Additionally, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to offer to, even during the licensing process, will certainly be shutting down. Some may continue to operate, but given the State's stance on centers that do not follow their cease and desist letters being looked at very unfavorably in the licensing process, the market will be severely lessened, if not eliminated. Therefore, caregivers will not have much choice for offering their overages, and also will certainly be restricted only to their present clients.
New Administrative Rules
A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 pertaining to the brand-new recommended final administrative rules for the regulation of medical marihuana facilities, which will become effective in November, when the emergency rules stop being effective. Those final proposed administrative rules permit home delivery by a provisioning center, and will likewise allow regulated online ordering. Those two things take away much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the brand-new rules. Patients would still need them to head to the provisioning facility to get and deliver marijuana to clients that were too ill or who were impaired and can not reach those licensed centers to acquire their medical marijuana. With this change to the administrative rules, such patients will no longer require a caregiver. They will be able to place an order online and have the provisioning facility deliver it to them, essentially getting rid of the necessity of a caregiver.
Final thought
For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to eliminate caregivers under the new administrative system, even prior to the intended removal in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a lot of reasons the State could be doing it, but that is of little comfort to caregivers. The bottom line is, the State is getting rid of the caregiver , and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they desire caregivers out of the industry as soon as possible, and they are establishing policies to make sure that happens sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while beneficial and essential under the old Michigan Medical Marihuana Act structure, are currently going the way of the Dodo. Like everything else, the Marihuana legislations are evolving, and some things that have thrived in the past, will not make it to see the new legalized era.
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