Detroit Legacy is a newly defined term of law for want to be cannabis operators in the City. Detroit is finally entering the adult-use marijuana industry almost a year after the state of Michigan legalized recreational marijuana that’s estimated to yield $3 billion in annual sales.

The ordinance aims to ensure residents disproportionately affected by the “War on Drugs” have an equitable opportunity to participate in the industry 

Marijuana was first legalized in the state for adult use following a 2018 Initiated Law. It took close to 11 months before the sale of cannabis began. 

This ordinance amends Chapter 20 of the 2019 Detroit City Code, Health, Article VI, Medical Marihuana Facilities, by renaming the Article to Medical Marihuana Facilities and Adult-Use Marihuana Establishments

The licensing will cover 10 state-approved categories, including medical marijuana provisioning centers, adult-use retailer establishments, growers, processors, safety compliance facilities, temporary marihuana events, microbusinesses, designated consumption lounges and secure transporters.

RELATED POST: HOW TO OPEN A MARIJUANA DISPENSARY IN MICHIGAN

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On November 24, 2020, the Detroit City Council unanimously passed the adult-use business ordinance to allow recreational marijuana to come to the Motor City. 

Detroit Marijuana Legalization Ordinance

Ordinance Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in Detroit

The law goes into effect in January 2021. The City of Detroit’s Civil Rights, Inclusion, and Opportunity department will begin certification of Detroit Legacy applicants.

Detroit legacy applicant means an individual who has, or an entity that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who has been a City of Detroit resident at the time of application for at least one year, and additionally has been:

• Resident for 15 of the last 30 years, or
• Resident for 13 of the last 30 years and are low income, or
• Resident for 10 of the last 30 years and have a marihuana conviction.

The ordinance establishes key principles for issuing licenses for recreational cannabis businesses in Detroit, looking to protect those who qualify as Detroit Legacy applicants:

• Detroit Legacy applicants will get a minimum of 50% of all newly created recreational marijuana business licenses issued in the city. No more licenses will be issue that reduce Detroit Legacy applicants below 50%
• There will be a six-week exclusive early licensing period for Detroit Legacy applicants.
• Detroit Legacy applicants will be able to purchase city-owned land at 25% of fair market value.
• The City will work with philanthropy and private lenders to develop sources of funding and expertise to back Detroit-owned marijuana business start-ups.

Applications For Marijuana Licenses in Detroit

The ordinance states that the applications for recreational marijuana licenses will be reviewed over three periods:

1. There will be a 6-week reserved application review period for Detroit Legacy applicants exclusively.
2. After, a 6-week reserved application review period for current Detroit medical marijuana facilities.
3. And finally all other regular applications will be reviewed.

Michigan Marijuana Laws

Both medical Marijuana and adult-use marijuana are legal in the State of Michigan. While the medical marijuana goes back to 2008 – and its commercial regulation law passed in 2016, Recreational marijuana in Michigan was legalized in November of 2018, with recreational sales beginning a year after, sooner than expected.

Michigan, one of the first states in the midwest, along with Illinois, to legalize adult-use cannabis, has estimated cannabis sales of $730 million to $875 million only in 2020. And it’s projected to reach $2 billion by 2024.

the local community can opt out of marijuana businesses. Currently about 1,400 cities and towns in Michigan have banned adult-use sales, making early availability extremely limited. But the cities have slowly but steadily started granting marijuana licenses, creating procedures for the issuance of business licenses.

What is a Co-location License

Co-location means a property that has been zoned to allow more than one type of medical marihuana facility or adult-use marihuana establishment to operate on the same premises.

Co-location license means a license required when a property has been zoned to allow more than one medical marihuana facility or adult-use marihuana establishment to operate on the same premises, and the property owner is not the licensee of all the businesses operating on the premises.

Types of Marijuana Licenses Available in Detroit:

These are the types of cannabis business licenses allowed to be issued in Detroit after the law goes into effect in January 2021.

• Growers, which cultivates, dries, trims, or cures and packages marihuana for sale or transfer to a medical marihuana facility or an adult-use marihuana establishment:

• • Class A adult-use marihuana grower that means a state operating license holder who is authorized to grow 100 marihuana plants;
  • Class B adult-use marihuana grower that means a state operating license holder who is authorized to grow 500 marihuana plants;
  • Class C adult-use marihuana grower that means a state operating license holder who is authorized to grow 2000 marihuana plants;
  • Class A medical marihuana grower that means a state operating license holder who is licensed to grow 500 medical marihuana plants;
  • Class B medical marihuana grower means a state operating license holder who is licensed to grow 1000 medical marihuana plants; or
  • Class C medical marihuana grower means a state operating license holder who is licensed to grow 1500 medical marihuana plants

•  Retailers license, that is a business licensed to obtain marihuana from adult-use marihuana establishments and sell or transfer marihuana to individuals who are 21 years of age or older and to other adult-use marihuana establishments.
• Processors license, that obtains marihuana from a medical marihuana facility or an adult-use marihuana establishment and that processes marihuana for sale and transfer in packaged form to a medical marihuana facility or an adult-use marihuana establishment.
• Safety compliance license, that tests marihuana for contaminants and potency or as required by the MRTMA or the MMFLA for a primary caregiver, medical marihuana facility, or adult-use marihuana establishment
• Secure transporters license, that is a business licensed that stores marihuana and transports marihuana between medical marihuana facilities or adult-use marihuana establishments for a fee
• Temporary marihuana events license, means a state operating license held by a marihuana event organizer authorizing an event where the onsite sale or consumption of marihuana products, or both, are authorized at the location and on the dates indicated on the state operating license.
• Marihuana event organizers, a state license holder authorized to apply for a temporary marihuana event license
• Microbusiness license, that means a business licensed to cultivates up to 150 marihuana plants or more as allowed by the State of Michigan, processes, and packages marihuana, and sells or otherwise transfers marihuana to individuals who are 21 years of age or older or to a safety compliance facility, but not to other adult-use marihuana establishments or medical marihuana facilities.
• Provisioning centers, that is a commercial entity located in this state that purchases marihuana from a grower or processor and sells, supplies, or provides marihuana to qualifying patients, directly or through the registered primary caregivers of patients. Provisioning center includes any commercial property where marihuana is sold at retail to qualifying patients or primary caregivers. A non-commercial location used by a primary caregiver to assist a qualifying patient connected to the caregiver through the state’s marihuana registration process

Is there a limit to the number of Marijuana Licenses allowed to be Granted in Detroit?

• For Medical Marihuana Provisioning Center 75 licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Adult-Use Retailer Establishment 75 licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For GrowerunlimitedProcessor unlimited licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Secured Transporter unlimited number of licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Safety Compliance Facility unlimited number of licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Designated Consumption Lounge 35 licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Microbusinesses 35 licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Marihuana Event Organizer unlimited number of licenses can be granted in Detroit
• For Temporary Marihuana Event unlimited number of licenses can be granted in Detroit

Don’t miss out on our Marijuana Legalization Map where you can browse the current status of laws in every state in the United States and see all our posts on each of them.

Check Out:

• Tom Howard at CannabisIndustryLawyer.com
• Miggy at Cannabis Legalization News

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