Michigan creates Medical Marijuana Agency

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on April 22, 2017.

Michigan has created the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation to centralize all aspects of medical marijuana regulation, according to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The bureau will house the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program (MMMP), the state patient and caregivers.

 The new agency will be responsible for regulating marijuana business including issuing licenses to growers, processors, distributors, retailers and patients in the state. In addition, it will take responsibility for the enforcement of secure transporters, provisioning centers and safety compliance facilities.

Andrew Brisbo, who has served as LARA’s licensing division director, has been named as the director of the newly created Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation. He will be in charge of the department that could grow to nearly 100 employees who investigate all license applicants and ultimately regulate the medical marijuana business in the state.

 “Our function as an agency is to ensure safe product is available for the patients in Michigan, and that we create a regulatory structure that allows for the growth of business”, says Andrew Brisbo. “The number of patients is increasing yearly, so the need is obviously there in that regard.”

LARA Director Shelly Edgerton said, centralized services will enhance patient protections and make regulations more efficient for business customers in the state.

Currently, more than 240,000 medical marijuana patients are registered in MMMP, and 40,000 care givers are licensed to distribute medical marijuana in the state.

In Michigan, the medical marijuana business is projected to generate revenues of more than $700 million, and if a ballot proposal goes to voters in 2018 and the market is opened for recreational use, too, those revenues will easily surpass $1 billion.

Michigan will start issuing the new marijuana licenses in 2018.

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