Am I Ready 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 that intends to take your product commercial on a larger scale? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, now you can do so lawfully, so long as you can successfully acquire a license from the State to do so. This might be an amazing chance with many brand-new owners seeing remarkable degrees of earnings as well as success in the market. Nevertheless, if you make this decision, 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, probably, unlawful and also lead to court activity that will certainly cripple your organisation before it begins.

However, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex as well as pricey process. Ask a medical marijuana lawyer, and they will tell you that you need to make sure that you are prepared. Let's take a look at the actions you will need to take, the team you need to construct and also the position that you might 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. The good news is that anybody, an individual or a full company can apply for a license. Applications started in 2017, and there is presently no deadline to complete the necessary forms. Certainly, there are certain individuals, who, due to the fact that they can not fulfill the minimum monetary demands, or due to the fact that they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their background, are prevented from applying. However, thinking you don't have a disqualifying criminal conviction, and also you, or your team of investors, satisfy the minimal economic needs, there are two main actions to the MMFLA licensing application process. The primary step will certainly be completed whether you have a final location for your structure or not. Nevertheless, if you have actually already selected a place before submitting your State application, something that we highly suggest, you can complete both actions at the exact same time.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is the first step, and it begins with an extensive background check. There are 2 sections-- 401 as well as 404 of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (M.C.L. 333.27401 et seq.) to refer to when identifying who you need to legally disclose and also whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This includes people such as the spouse of the individual and all corporate officers. This is just one of the reasons why it is worth seeking advice from an MMMA attorney as it can be rather tricky to get all the information correct. The State will intend to do a deep dive into the backgrounds of not only all of the "interested parties," or members/owners of your marijuana service, but the State will certainly also check into the backgrounds of all of those individual's spouses also. 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 throws away the entire application. As a result, it is very important to learn about the backgrounds of the persons you have in your investment group, prior to applying for your Medical Marihuana Facilities License. There are a lot of things that a skilled attorney can do to help you plan for your application, as well as to ensure that any possible issues with your application are known, divulged or gotten ready for before the application is submitted. Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason that an attorney will usually be a crucial and required hire.

Think about The Expense

Before your details can be assessed by an expert from the Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation (BMMR), you need to pay a $6000 charge for your application. BMMR will certainly decline to move forward with your application until this has been paid completely. In addition to being costly, this fee is non-refundable so you want to make sure that there are no concerns with your application that can lead to it being turned down. An MMFLA lawyer can ensure that this holds true and help you navigate any challenging concerns. Even more, before you can acquire State approval for operation, you will certainly also need to get a municipal or city authorization. Each city or township will likewise require you to finish an application and also you will certainly need to pay an application fee there as well. The application cost can range depending on what the city wishes to charge, however, they can not charge greater than $5,000.00. The majority of cities and 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 consist of the costs of ancillary services, such as accountants, engineers, marketing experts and various other solutions essential for your application to be total.

When you have collected and also paid the application fees, all candidates and also supplemental candidates will have their finger prints taken. You could think that if you already have actually had your fingerprints taken by local law enforcement this action can be avoided. Nevertheless, BMMR will certainly decline finger prints unless they are requested as well as collected by them via the licensing process. You will certainly have to go to an accepted place where your finger prints can be collected digitally and also sent for review by the State.

Facility License

This is the 2nd step and keep in mind, if you have already chosen a place to grow cannabis, you can complete this step with the first. You have to be prepared to meet all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will need to have a business plan. However, that plan must include specific things. You must have all of the components 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 stated 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 organisations to run. The MMFLA has strict rules for people and organisations planning 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 must have "opted-in" to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (list of Michigan municipalities that have actually opted in to MMFLA), and it should have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the policies and also standards for those facilities to operate within the city or township. The complete guidelines can be discovered in 205, yet if you do have any type of questions you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, alternatively, get your lawyer to do this for you. As the application proceeds, BMMR will speak to applicants, providing details on any various other demands, including a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.

Approved

Lastly, you might acquire authorization for your license. After you are informed 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 annually, so it is difficult to predict precisely what it will be. Nonetheless, beginning in 2019, no matter which license you obtain, anticipate the assessment to be imposed as well as for that assessment to be substantial.

Conclusion.

We hope this helps you determine whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Remember, with an attorney on your side, this process can be far much easier, as well as you will certainly get expert recommendations on how to proceed correctly to make certain that your application is accepted. Even after you acquire approval, legal guidance is suggested to ensure you stay on top of modifications to the law and also policies, and so that you can continue to be in compliance and keep your organisation open.

Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we focus on aiding clients get MMFLA licenses as well as guaranteeing continuing compliance.

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