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

Thinking of starting a Medical Marihuana Grow to ensure that you can give cannabis to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver who intends to take your item commercial on a larger range? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, now you can do so legally, so long as you can successfully acquire a license from the State to do so. This can be a fantastic possibility with several new owners seeing remarkable degrees of revenue and also success in the market. Nevertheless, if you make this choice, you do need to make certain that you obtain a Michigan commercial grow license. Failing to do so will certainly lead to your endeavor being, most likely, prohibited and bring about court activity that will certainly paralyze your business before it starts.

Regrettably, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex and costly process. Ask a medical marijuana attorney, and they will certainly tell you that you need to make sure that you are prepared. Let's consider the steps you will need to take, the team you need to develop as well as the position that you may find yourself in.

Who Can Apply?

The first question to ask yourself is whether or not you are qualified to apply for a Medical Marihuana Facilities license. Fortunately is that anybody, an individual or a full company can apply for a license. Applications began in 2017, as well as there is presently no deadline to finish the required forms. Of course, there are particular people, who, because they can not meet the minimal financial requirements, or since they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their history, are averted from applying. However, thinking you don't have a disqualifying criminal conviction, as well as you, or your group of financiers, satisfy the minimum monetary demands, there are two main steps to the MMFLA licensing application process. The initial step will be finished whether you have a final location for your structure or not. Nevertheless, if you have actually already selected a place prior to sending your State application, something that we extremely advise, you can complete both actions at the very same time.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is the initial step, and it begins with an extensive background check. There are two sections-- 401 and 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 disclose as well as whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This consists of people such as the spouse of the individual and all corporate officers. This is just one of the reasons that it is worth seeking advice from an MMMA lawyer as it can be fairly complicated to get all the details correct. The State will certainly intend 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 certainly additionally look into the histories of every one of those individual's spouses too. Should any person have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their past, or otherwise be of "good moral character," the State can reject the whole application. In other words, if there is one bad apple in the bunch, the State tosses out the whole application. Consequently, 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 great deal of things that a knowledgeable attorney can do to assist you plan for your application, and also to make certain that any kind of possible issues with your application are understood, divulged or prepared for before the application is submitted. Nonetheless, this isn't the only reason why an attorney will usually be a crucial and required hire.

Consider The Expense

Before your details can be evaluated 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 reject to progress with your application until this has been paid in full. As well as being pricey, this fee is non-refundable so you want to see to it that there are no concerns with your application that can result in it being declined. An MMFLA lawyer can guarantee that this is the case and also help you navigate any kind of difficult concerns. Further, before you can acquire State approval for operation, you will also have to get a municipal or city approval. Each city or township will certainly also need you to complete an application as well as you will have to pay an application fee there as well. The application expense can vary depending on what the city wants to charge, nevertheless, they can not charge greater than $5,000.00. A lot of cities and also townships are charging the maximum amount. In total, the application charges alone are most likely to be in excess of $10,000.00. That doesn't include the costs of ancillary services, such as accountants, engineers, marketers and also various other services required for your application to be total.

Once you have gathered as well as paid the application fees, all applicants as well as supplemental candidates will have their finger prints taken. You might assume that if you currently have actually had your fingerprints taken by local law enforcement this step can be missed. However, BMMR will not accept fingerprints unless they are asked for and collected by them with the licensing process. You will certainly have to go to an approved place where your fingerprints can be collected electronically as well as sent for evaluation by the State.

Facility License

This is the 2nd step and keep in mind, if you have already chosen a location to grow cannabis, you can finish this step with the first. You need to be prepared to meet all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will need to have a business plan. Nonetheless, that plan should include particular things. You must have all of the parts required by the State: facility plan, security plan, marketing plan, staffing plan, technology plan, waste disposal plan (if applicable), and 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 has to be located in a city or township that permits MMFLA companies to operate. The MMFLA has strict policies for individuals and services preparing to grow in a municipality. If you want to grow in a town, 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 who have actually opted in to MMFLA), as well as it has to have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the regulations and also guidelines for those centers to operate within the city or township. The full standards can be discovered in 205, however if you do have any kind of inquiries you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, conversely, get your lawyer to do this for you. As the application proceeds, BMMR will speak to applicants, supplying details on any other requirements, consisting of a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.

Approved

Lastly, you may gain authorization for your license. After you are informed of this, you will need to pay for a regulatory assessment. Currently, 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 each year, so it is impossible to anticipate specifically what it will be. Nevertheless, beginning in 2019, despite which license you get, anticipate the assessment to be imposed and for that assessment to be substantial.

Conclusion.

We hope this helps you decide whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Keep in mind, with an attorney on your side, this process can be far easier, and you will get professional suggestions on how to proceed properly to ensure that your application is approved. Even after you get authorization, legal advice is suggested to guarantee you stay on top of changes to the law and also regulations, and so that you can continue to be in compliance and also keep your service open.

Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we concentrate on assisting customers obtain MMFLA licenses as well as making sure continuing compliance.

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