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

Considering starting a Medical Marihuana Grow so that you can give marijuana to the medical marihuana market? Are you a Medical Marihuana Act licensed caregiver who intends to take your item commercial on a bigger range? Thanks to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, currently you can do so legally, so long as you can successfully acquire a license from the State to do so. This could be an amazing chance with several new owners seeing incredible levels of profit as well as success in the market. Nonetheless, 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 lead to your endeavor being, probably, prohibited and also result in court activity that will paralyze your company before it starts.

Regrettably, the Michigan commercial grow license application is a long, complex and also expensive process. Ask a medical marijuana lawyer, and also they will inform you that you need to see to it that you are prepared. Let's consider the steps you will certainly have to take, the team you need to build and also the position that you might find yourself in.

Who Can Apply?

The 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 business can apply for a license. Applications started in 2017, as well as there is presently no target date to finish the required forms. Of course, there are particular individuals, that, since they can not fulfill the minimal economic requirements, or due to the fact that they have a disqualifying criminal conviction in their background, are precluded from applying. Nevertheless, thinking you don't have a disqualifying criminal conviction, as well as you, or your team of investors, fulfill the minimal monetary requirements, there are 2 major actions to the MMFLA licensing application process. The very first step will be completed whether you have a final location for your building or not. Nonetheless, if you have actually already selected an area prior to submitting your State application, something that we extremely recommend, you can finish both steps at the exact same time.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is the primary 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 reveal as well as whether they have a relevant business interest in your operation. This includes individuals such as the spouse of the individual as well as all corporate officers. This is one of the reasons it is worth consulting with an MMMA lawyer as it can be rather difficult to get all the details correct. The State will certainly want to do a deep dive into the backgrounds of not only all of the "interested parties," or members/owners of your marijuana organisation, but the State will additionally consider the backgrounds of all of those individual's spouses also. Should anybody 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 tosses out the whole application. For that reason, it is necessary to find out about the backgrounds of the individuals you have in your investment group, prior to 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 sure that any prospective concerns with your application are recognized, disclosed or prepared for before the application is sent. However, this isn't the only reason a lawyer will usually be an important and needed hire.

Take into consideration The Expense

Before your details can be reviewed by an analyst from the Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation (bmmr), you need to pay a $6000 fee for your application. BMMR will refuse to progress with your application until this has been paid in full. As well as being expensive, this fee is non-refundable so you want to make sure that there are no issues with your application that might bring about it being turned down. An MMFLA attorney can make certain that this is the case and help you navigate any kind of tricky problems. Additionally, before you can obtain State authorization for operation, you will also have to get a municipal or city authorization. Each city or township will additionally require you to complete an application as well as you will need to pay an application fee there as well. The application price can vary depending on what the city wants to charge, however, they can not charge greater than $5,000.00. A lot of cities and townships are charging the maximum amount. In total, the application charges alone are likely to be in excess of $10,000.00. That does not consist of the costs of ancillary services, such as accounting professionals, designers, marketing professionals as well as various other solutions essential for your application to be full.

As soon as you have collected and paid the application fees, all applicants and also supplemental applicants will certainly have their finger prints taken. You may believe that if you already have had your finger prints taken by local police this step can be avoided. However, BMMR will certainly decline fingerprints unless they are asked for and also collected by them via the licensing process. You will have to go to an accepted location where your finger prints 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 an area to grow cannabis, you can complete this step with the first. You should be prepared to meet all the MMFLA rules. During this step, you will certainly need to have a business plan. However, that plan should include specific things. You must have all of the parts needed 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 must be located in a city or township that allows MMFLA services to operate. The MMFLA has strict policies for people and also organisations planning to grow in a municipality. If you want to grow in a town, it should have an ordinance that authorizes marihuana facility operations. Colloquially, the municipality has to have "opted-in" to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (list of Michigan municipalities that have actually opted in to MMFLA), and also it must have passed a regulatory ordinance that sets for the rules and guidelines for those centers to run within the city or township. The complete standards can be discovered in 205, however if you do have any kind of questions you need to contact your municipal authority. Or, alternatively, get your lawyer to do this for you. As the application advances, BMMR will contact candidates, offering information on any kind of various other demands, including a pre-licensure inspection of your location or facility.

Accepted

Ultimately, you may obtain approval for your license. After you are informed of this, you will certainly 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 anticipate precisely what it will be. Nonetheless, beginning in 2019, despite which license you obtain, anticipate the assessment to be imposed as well as for that assessment to be substantial.

Final thought.

We hope this helps you make a decision whether you are ready to apply for a Michigan commercial grow license. Remember, with a legal representative at hand, this process can be far much easier, as well as you will obtain professional recommendations on just how to proceed properly to guarantee that your application is approved. Even after you acquire approval, legal guidance is recommended to ensure you stay on top of adjustments to the legislation 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 specialize in aiding customers obtain MMFLA licenses and guaranteeing continuing compliance.

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