Adults
age 21
are
allowed
to grow,
possess
and
consume
marijuana
Dec. 6,
2018
DETROIT - Recreational marijuana is officially legal in Michigan as of
December
6, 2018.
Retail
shops
aren't
expected
to open
for at
least
another
year,
but
people
21 and
older
can now
buy or
possess
marijuana
in the
state.
How
would
you buy
marijuana?
You
would be
able to
purchase
the
allowed
amount
of
marijuana
from a
licensed
business.
Businesses
would be
licensed
by the
state.
The
initiative
allows
cities
to
decide
if they
want to
allow
these
businesses
in their
municipality.
The
timeframe
for when
businesses
could
obtain
such a
license
is
unclear.
The
Michigan
Department
of
Licensing
and
Regulatory
Affairs
probably
won't be
able to
issue
such
licenses
until
2019.
Here are
10
things
that
adults
age 21
and over
can do ‒
and 9
things
they
cannot:
You
can…
1. Walk
around
with
(lots
of) weed
in your
pocket
Residents
can
possess
up to
2.5
ounces
of
flower
(marijuana
product
smoked
in
joints),
or 15
grams of
concentrate,
which is
the
resin
from
cannabis
plants
used for
edibles,
dabs,
vaping,
and
other
products.
What
does 2.5
ounces
look
like?
Estimating
how many
joints
2.5
ounces
can
produce
depends
on the
size of
the
joint.
Based on
0.5
grams
per
joint,
the
Michigan
limit
yields
about
140
joints.
(CRMLA
appears
to roll
bigger-than-average
joints,
because
they
estimate
the
personal
limit
produces
roughly
80
joints.)
But
watch
where
you
tread:
Cannabis
would
not be
allowed
on the
grounds
of a
K-12
school
and
would
remain a
felony
on any
federally
owned
property,
such as
a
national
park.
2.
Grow
marijuana
inside
your
home
Talk
about a
green
thumb. A
household
would be
permitted
to grow
up to 12
plants,
the
limit
regardless
of the
number
of
adults
living
there.
Any
outdoor
gardening
would
have to
take
place in
a secure
area
where
the
plants
are not
easily
visible
to the
public.
3.
Store up
to 10
ounces
of
marijuana
in your
safe
While
personal
possession
is
capped
at 2.5
ounces,
a
household
can have
up to 10
ounces
(as many
as 560
joints,
at 56
JPO, for
those
counting
at
home).
This
holds
true
even if
five or
more
adults
over the
age of
21 live
together.
Advocates
say the
10-ounce
limit
only
applies
to
marijuana
products
purchased,
and not
to pot
grown on
the
property.
Product
grown at
the home
would
not be
counted
toward
the
household
limit.
Lowell
said
this
provision
was
added
because
the
Coalition
“didn’t
want to
make a
situation
where if
somebody
happened
to have
a good
harvest...they
broke
the law”
despite
all of
their
actions
being
legal.
Opponents
of the
ballot
measure
balk at
the high
limits.
Greenlee
predicts
that
having
among
the
highest
household
possession
limits
in the
nation
(most
states
allowing
legal
weed cap
household
limits
at 1
ounce of
flower)
would
make
“Michigan
the weed
capital.”
4.
Give pot
as a
gift
this
holiday
season
As long
as the
giver
and
recipient
are over
the age
of 21,
giving
cannabis
products
as a
gift is
permitted.
How
much
would
this
take out
of your
holiday
budget?
Other
states
have
varying
tax
rates,
affecting
the
price.
ColoradoPotGuide.com,
citing
data
from the
cannabis
market
research
firm BDS
Analytics,
reports
that the
average
retail
price in
spring
2017 for
one gram
of
flower
was
$6.92.
Washington
state
was
$5.87
per
gram.
That is
enough
to roll
roughly
two to
three
joints.
5.
Open a
commercial
cannabis
farm
The
initiative
lays out
three
tiers of
business
licenses
for
marijuana
growers,
scaled
by the
number
of
plants a
farmer
can
cultivate.
A class
A
business
license
would
allow up
to 100
plants
at any
one
time,
class B
is 500
plants,
and a
class C
license
permits
up to
2,000
plants.
For the
first
two
years,
according
to
Lowell,
those
already
operating
businesses
licensed
under
Michigan’s
Medical
Marijuana
Facilities
Licensing
Act
would
receive
priority
for an
equivalent
recreational
marijuana
license.
6.
Operate
a
marijuana
microbusiness
Inspired
by
microbreweries,
a
marijuana
microbusiness
license
would
allow
for
vertical
integration.
Permitted
to grow
up to
150
plants,
a
microbusiness
could
process,
package
and sell
its crop
to
adults.
They are
already
legal in
California,
but have
not
proliferated
because
of
zoning
and
licensing
delays.
7. Limit
or ban
recreational
marijuana
businesses
in your
municipality
Even if
voters
approve
marijuana
at the
state
level,
locals
keep
some
control.
Municipalities
can
place
harsher
restrictions
on
marijuana
businesses
than the
state,
such as
by
capping
the
number
of
licenses,
or
banning
commercial
cannabis
altogether.
Residents
can
petition
their
town for
such
ordinances.
8.
Refuse
to hire
job
applicants,
or fire
existing
employees,
if they
test
positive
for
marijuana
Even
though
the law
allows
it, pot
may
still
violate
your
employee
handbook.
After
speaking
with the
business
community,
Hovey
said the
coalition
“felt it
was
important
for
business
to have
the
right”
to test
employees
and
reject
or fire
them for
failing
a drug
test.
Some
industries,
such as
trucking,
would be
required
by law
to
continue
to do
so.
As
Bridge
has
reported,
parts of
the
Michigan
business
community
are
already
struggling
to find
skilled
workers
who can
pass a
drug
test.
Greenlee,
of
Healthy
and
Productive
Michigan,
predicts
state
workforce
development
challenges
will
only
worsen
with
easier
access
to
marijuana,
saying
that is
why “the
Michigan
Chamber
and
Grand
Rapids
Chamber
and
other
smaller
chambers
are
strongly
against
any
recreational
marijuana
in
Michigan.”
9.
Ban
tenants
from
smoking
on your
rental
property
Just as
landlords
have the
right to
ban
smoking
cigarettes
on their
property,
they can
also
prohibit
smoking
cannabis
product.
It’s
possible
this
initiative
would
not
allow
them to
completely
bar
cannabis
consumption.
According
to
Hovey,
landlords
would
not have
the
right to
ban
consumption
in other
ways,
such as
edibles.
Chartier
supported
this
interpretation
but said
she
expects
litigation
on this
issue.
10.
Work as
a
‘budtender’
at a
smoking
lounge
Move
over,
cigar
bars and
hookah
lounges.
The
initiative
gives
municipalities
the
right to
zone
areas
for
businesses
that
permit
consuming
pot.
These
businesses
would
not be
considered
public
spaces,
exempting
them
from the
portion
of the
law that
prohibits
consumption
in
public.
You
can not…
1. Fill
your
entire
garage
with
your new
cash
crop
Not only
are
households
limited
to 12
plants,
you
cannot
open a
licensed
marijuana
establishment
in a
residential
area.
2.
Grow
your
stash in
a
community
garden
This
isn’t a
case of
“If
you’ve
got it,
flaunt
it.”
Plants
can only
be grown
in a
secured,
enclosed
space.
It’s
probably
best if
that
room
lacks a
window,
too, as
plants
can’t be
“visible
from a
public
place.”
3.
Drive
while
high
Just
like
alcohol,
it would
be
illegal
to
operate
a
vehicle
while
under
the
influence
of
marijuana.
Exactly
how this
portion
of the
law
would be
enforced
is
murky.
“There
isn’t a
good way
to test
people
on the
side of
the
road,”
Greenlee
said.
There
are also
no
national
standards
to
determine
drugged
driving.
Unlike
alcohol,
tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC),
the
active
chemical
ingredient
in
cannabis,
remains
in the
system
long
after it
continues
to have
an
effect.
Chartier
defines
impaired
driving
as “a
substantial
and
material
effect
on
driving.”
A 2013
Michigan
Supreme
Court
case,
People
v. Koon,
was
decided
in favor
of
Chartier’s
client,
a
medical
marijuana
patient
charged
with
driving
under
the
influence
because
THC was
detected
in his
system.
The
court
noted
that
state
law
governing
medical
pot does
not
define
what
constitutes
“under
the
influence.”
But the
court
said
“the
phrase
clearly
contemplates
something
more
than
having
any
amount
of
marijuana
in one’s
system
and
requires
some
effect
on the
person.”
“The
reasoning
would
apply to
recreational
user,”
Chartier
wrote in
an email
to
Bridge,
“but the
holding
of the
case
can’t
just be
extended
to
recreational
users.
It
likely
would be
litigated.”
As
states
have
begun to
legalize
recreational
marijuana,
a
variety
of
methods
have
been
developed
to test
if
somebody
is
stoned
behind
the
wheel.
iPad
apps,
blood
tests,
and
saliva
swabs
are
among
potential
solutions,
but as
yet
there is
no
universal
yardstick
to
certify
cannabis
impairment.
4.
Light up
in a
park
Smoking
recreational
marijuana
would
not be
allowed
in
public.
If you
choose
to
indulge,
you
would
have to
do so on
private
property
or in a
business
zoned
for
marijuana
consumption.
When
it comes
to
privately
owned
property
that’s
visible
from a
public
place,
such as
your
front
porch,
Chartier
said “an
overly
aggressive
prosecutor
may try
and
claim
that
[smoking
on your
front
porch is
a public
space]
because
the
public
can view
the
porch.
But I
don’t
think
that
argument
would be
successful
based on
the case
law.”
5.
Promote
it as a
free
gift for
another
retail
purchase
Maine
and
Washington,
D.C.,
allow
people
to
possess
pot and
gift it
to
others
over 21,
but they
do not
allow
retail
sales. A
bustling
grey
economy
of
“gifting”
weed has
burst
forth to
exploit
the
loophole.
In
Boston,
for
example,
you can
buy a
$55
bottle
of
juice,
with the
pot that
comes
with it
being
complimentary.
Michigan’s
initiative
attempts
to crack
down on
this
gifting
economy
before
it has
the
chance
to grow,
permitting
gifts
“as long
as the
transfer
is not
advertised
or
promoted
to the
public.”
“If
you are
saying
‘Buy a
bottle
of water
and get
a free
ounce of
marijuana,’
that
would be
illegal
under
our
initiative,”
Hovey
told
Bridge.
This
would
prevent
businesses
from
distributing
marijuana
products
without
being
approved
or
avoiding
having
to pay
for a
marijuana
retailing
license.
6.
Sell
colorful,
marijuana-laced
candy
Candy
infused
with
marijuana
that is
in a
shape or
packaging
attractive
to
children
would be
banned.
Looks
like you
may
still
have to
head to
California
for
those
Cheeba
Chews.
7.
Ship
marijuana
to
somebody
else
(even
within
Michigan)
Hold on
before
you
start
devising
a
mail-order
marijuana
business
model.
The post
office
is run
by the
federal
government,
which
continues
to
consider
marijuana
a Class
I
controlled
substance.
Shipping
marijuana,
even if
it stays
within
Michigan,
would
remain
illegal.
Commercial
shippers
may have
leeway
to
deliver
marijuana
products,
but the
area
remains
hazy.
Other
states
have not
seen
marijuana-by-mail
flourish.
8.
Ban
marijuana
completely
from
your
town
Though
local
governments
can ban
or limit
cannabis
businesses,
they
cannot
ban
marijuana
completely.
Initiative
language
explicitly
states
they
cannot
restrict
the flow
of
marijuana
products
being
transported
through
their
boundaries.
On
whether
towns
can ban
personal
growth
and
consumption,
advocates
and
opponents
differ.
Lowell
says
towns
could
not
strip
individuals
of their
right to
grow or
use pot.
Chartier
agrees
that
only
commercial
activities
can be
restricted
locally.
But
Greenlee
says it
is
“likely
to be
one of
those
things
that
will
have to
be
figured
out by
the
state or
a court
challenge.”
9.
Sell
homegrown
marijuana
to your
friends
Unless,
of
course,
you are
willing
to go
through
the
licensing
process.
Selling
marijuana
would
require
getting
a
license
and
paying
associated
taxes to
be a
marijuana
retailer,
and
products
must be
tested
before
being
placed
on the
market.