The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is standing firm on their position that all marijuana facilities 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 explained that any center that continues to operate after receipt of the cease and desist will likely not be given a license. Further, the State has set forth proposed Final Rules relating to Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to allow or registered qualifying patients to obtain home shipments from provisioning centers (with constraint, obviously) as well as will likewise allow online purchasing. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were expecting to be able to continue to be relevant to their patients till 2021?

Traditional Model

The old model for registered caregivers was rather basic. You were enabled to grow up to twelve plants for each client. You could have five clients, aside from yourself. If the caregiver was also a client, they could additionally cultivate twelve plants for personal usage also. So, a caregiver could grow a total of seventy-two marihuana plants. Most caregivers produced far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could use for patients 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 not obtained a State license were permitted to continue running as well as purchasing from registered caregivers. Those facilities were permitted to get caregiver overages for thirty days after receiving their State license for stock. That meant significant revenues for caregivers as well as considerable supply for dispensaries.

After September 15, 2018

The troubles for registered caregivers only begins on September 15, 2018. All State licensed facilities that will continue to be open and operating can not buy any product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly banned from acquiring or selling any kind of product that is not generated by a State Licensed Cultivator 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 up for sale that is not from a State Licensed Grower or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, consisting of temporary or permanent abrogation of the license. Given the danger, licensed facilities are very unlikely to risk buying from a caregiver, given the possible consequences.

Further, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to market to, even throughout the licensing procedure, will certainly be closing down. Some might continue to run, but given the State’s stance on facilities that do not abide by their cease and desist letters being looked at very adversely in the licensing process, the market will be seriously decreased, if not eliminated. As a result, caregivers will not have much recourse for offering their excess, and will be limited only to their present patients.

New Administrative Rules

A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 pertaining to the new recommended final administrative rules for the regulation of medical marihuana facilities, which will become effective in November, when the emergency rules discontinue being effective. Those final recommended administrative rules enable house delivery by a provisioning center, and will likewise allow regulated online purchasing. Those two things take away much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the brand-new rules. Clients would certainly still need them to visit the provisioning center to get and deliver marijuana to clients that were too ill or that were disabled and can not reach those licensed facilities to acquire their medicinal marijuana. With this adjustment to the administrative rules, such clients will no longer require a caregiver. They will have the ability to place an order online and have the provisioning center deliver it to them, essentially getting rid of the need of a caregiver.

Conclusion

For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to eliminate caregivers under the brand-new administrative plan, even before the planned removal in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a lot of factors the State could be doing it, but that is of little comfort to caregivers. The bottom line is, the State is eliminating the caregiver , and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they want caregivers out of the marketplace immediately, and they are developing rules to guarantee that takes place sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while beneficial and necessary under the old Michigan Medical Marihuana Act structure, are now going the way of the Dodo. Like everything else, the Marihuana legislations are evolving, and some things that have prospered in the past, will not make it to see the new legalized era.

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