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

Thinking about starting a Medical Marihuana Grow to make sure that you can offer marijuana to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver that intends to take your item commercial on a larger scale? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, now you can do so legally, as long as you can successfully acquire a license from the State to do so. This can be a superb opportunity with several new owners seeing remarkable levels of earnings and success in the market. However, 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 venture being, most likely, prohibited and result in court action that will certainly cripple your company before it begins.

Sadly, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex as well as costly process. Ask a medical marijuana lawyer, and also they will inform you that you need to ensure 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 could find yourself in.

Who Can Apply?

The very first inquiry to ask yourself is whether or not you are qualified to apply for a Medical Marihuana Facilities license. Fortunately is that any person, an individual or a full company can apply for a license. Applications began in 2017, and there is currently no target date to complete the needed forms. Naturally, there are particular people, that, due to the fact that they can not satisfy the minimal economic demands, or since they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their background, are precluded from applying. Nevertheless, thinking you do not have a disqualifying criminal conviction, and also you, or your group of financiers, satisfy the minimum financial needs, there are two major steps 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 location prior to submitting your State application, something that we highly suggest, you can finish both actions at the very same time.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is the primary step, and it starts with an extensive background check. There are two 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 divulge as well as whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This includes people such as the spouse of the individual and also all corporate officers. This is among the reasons that it is worth seeking advice from an MMMA attorney as it can be rather complicated to get all the information correct. The State will want 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 also check out the histories of all of those individual's spouses also. Should anyone have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their past, or otherwise be of "good moral character," the State can deny the whole application. In other words, if there is one bad apple in the bunch, the State throws away the entire application. As a result, it is important to learn about the backgrounds 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 seasoned attorney can do to aid you plan for your application, and also to make certain that any possible issues with your application are recognized, revealed or prepared for before the application is submitted. However, this isn't the only reason that an attorney will commonly be a crucial and required hire.

Take into consideration The Cost

Before your info can be examined by an analyst 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 refuse to move forward with your application until this has been paid in full. As well as being expensive, this fee is non-refundable so you want to ensure that there are no concerns with your application that can cause it being rejected. An MMFLA attorney can ensure that this is the case and help you navigate any kind of complicated problems. Even more, before you can get State approval for operation, you will certainly also have to get a municipal or city approval. Each city or township will likewise need you to complete an application and also you will have to pay an application fee there too. The application price can range depending on what the city wants to charge, nevertheless, they can not charge more than $5,000.00. The majority of cities and also townships are charging the maximum amount. In total, the application charges alone are likely to be in excess of $10,000.00. That doesn't include the costs of ancillary services, such as accounting professionals, designers, marketing experts as well as various other services necessary for your application to be full.

As soon as you have gathered as well as paid the application fees, all candidates as well as supplemental applicants will certainly have their fingerprints taken. You may believe that if you already have had your finger prints taken by local law enforcement this action can be missed. However, BMMR will decline finger prints unless they are requested and collected by them through the licensing process. You will certainly need to go to an accepted location where your fingerprints can be collected digitally as well as sent for review by the State.

Facility License

This is the second step and bear in mind, if you have already chosen an area to grow marijuana, you can complete this step with the first. You have to be prepared to fulfill all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will certainly need to have a business plan. Nonetheless, that plan should include particular things. You must have every one of the parts required by the State: facility plan, security plan, marketing plan, staffing plan, technology plan, waste disposal plan (if applicable), and also 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 allows MMFLA services to operate. The mmfla has strict guidelines for individuals and services preparing to grow in a municipality. If you intend to grow in a municipality, it should 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 opted in to MMFLA), as well as it must have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the policies as well as standards for those facilities to run within the city or township. The full standards can be found in 205, yet if you do have any inquiries you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, alternatively, get your attorney to do this for you. As the application advances, BMMR will certainly contact applicants, providing details on any various other needs, including a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.

Approved

Finally, you may obtain authorization for your license. After you are notified 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 each year, so it is impossible to predict exactly what it will be. However, beginning in 2019, regardless of which license you acquire, expect the assessment to be imposed and for that assessment to be significant.

Verdict.

We hope this helps you make a decision whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Keep in mind, with a legal representative at hand, this process can be far simpler, and you will certainly get experienced guidance on just how to proceed appropriately to ensure that your application is accepted. Even after you get approval, legal guidance is advised to guarantee you stay on top of modifications to the legislation and also regulations, and so that you can remain in compliance and keep your organisation open.

Here at Fowler & Williams, PLC, we specialize in helping customers obtain MMFLA licenses and also guaranteeing continuing compliance.

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