After September 15, Can I Still be a Caregiver?

The Bureau of Medical marijuana Regulation is persevering 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 get a cease and desist letter at that time. While the facilities are not mandated to shut down, the State Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has made clear that any center that continues to run after receipt of the cease and desist will very likely not be granted a license. Additionally, the State has stated recommended Final Rules pertaining to Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to permit or registered qualifying patients to get house shipments from provisioning centers (with restriction, naturally) as well as will additionally permit online purchasing. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were anticipating to be able to stay relevant to their clients up until 2021?

Traditional

The old model for registered caregivers was quite easy. You were permitted to cultivate up to twelve plants for each patient. You could have five patients, besides yourself. If the caregiver was also a patient, they could likewise cultivate twelve plants for personal usage too. So, a caregiver could grow a total amount of seventy-two marihuana plants. Most caregivers produced far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could use for clients and individual usage. The caregivers would then sell their excess product to medical marihuana dispensaries.

Under the emergency rules, marihuana dispensaries that were operating with municipal approval, but that had actually not gotten a State license were permitted to continue running and purchasing from registered caregivers. Those facilities were permitted to get caregiver overages for thirty days after receiving their State license for supply. That meant considerable revenues for caregivers and significant supply for dispensaries.

After September 15, 2018

The problems for registered caregivers only starts on September 15, 2018. All State licensed facilities that will remain open and operating can not buy any product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly banned from buying or offering any kind of item that is not generated by a State Licensed Grower or Processor that has had their product tested and certified by a State Licensed Safety Compliance Facility. Any State Licensed Provisioning Center that is discovered to have product available for sale that is not from a State Licensed Grower or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, consisting of short-term or irreversible revocation of the license. Given the risk, licensed facilities are extremely unlikely to run the risk of buying from a caregiver, given the prospective effects.

Further, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to market to, even during the licensing process, will be shutting down. Some may continue to operate, but given the State's stance on centers that do not adhere to their cease and desist letters being looked at very adversely in the licensing process, the market will certainly be drastically decreased, if not eliminated. Consequently, caregivers will not have much recourse for offering their excess, as well as will certainly be restricted only to their present clients.

New Administrative Rules

A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 relating 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 suggested administrative rules permit home delivery by a provisioning center, and will likewise allow regulated online ordering. Those two things eliminate much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the brand-new guidelines. Patients would certainly still require them to head to the provisioning center to get and deliver marijuana to patients that were too ill or that were disabled and could not reach those licensed centers to acquire their medical marijuana. With this modification to the administrative rules, such patients will no longer need a caregiver. They will be able to place an order online and have the provisioning facility deliver it to them, basically removing the requirement of a caregiver.

Conclusion

For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to eliminate caregivers under the new administrative system, even before 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 doing away with the caregiver model, and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they desire caregivers out of the industry asap, and they are establishing policies to ensure that takes place sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while useful and needed 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 flourished in the past, will not make it to see the brand-new legalized era.