The medical marijuana industry in Michigan has taken a big step.
The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is now accepting applications for medical marijuana facility licenses.
On the first day LARA Spokesman David Harns said 91 people began the application process.
“68 of those people started the application,” said LARA Spokesman David Harns. “Five of them went all the way through the process and submitted their application.”
Harns said the rest of the applicants did it in person. He said they were happy with the results, but were ready for anything.
“We didn’t really know what to expect but we’ve had such high interest in this topic for the last year so we wanted to make sure that we were over prepared,” said Harns.
The application is nearly 50 pages long and outlines the process for applicants.
Step one is Pre-Qualification, which includes a background check and a fee of $6,000.
Then its on to step two, License Qualification, which requires applicants to have a specific location chosen and approval from that municipality.
“That would be the final step and after that we’re taking applications to the Medical Marijuana Licensing Board to either approve it or deny it,” said Harns.
One of the companies planning to move forward with the application is TheraCann USA.
Richard Goodman, the President of TheraCann USA, said it was no longer in their best interest and they are now looking into other locations.
“We can’t disclose those locations unfortunately,” said Goodman. “We learned the hard way that it’s better to keep this a little bit discreet, but we are also looking at multiple other opportunities. There have been a lot of municipalities, individuals and property owners that have been very very flexible.”
Though Goodman could not disclose the locations he said there is interest from other municipalities in northern Michigan.
He also said he hopes to have the LARA application done by January.
LARA plans to start issuing licenses by March or April of 2018.
