Michigan voted, and the vote said: “Yes Weed!” We’re now in March of 2020, and we’re asking, where’s our recreational marijuana?
As of March 2, MLive reported the staggering statistic that “Michigan has tallied nearly $32 million in sales.” According to their report, “the state had issued 111 recreational marijuana business licenses, and sixty-one of those were for retail businesses.”
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DETROIT’S MARIJUANA PREDICAMENT
We’re starting to see some movement on the horizon, not all of it is moving forward, and some could argue it is even rolling backward.
Some of the news that broke in 2020 includes:
- Growers will no longer be able to purchase non-flower related items from caregivers, and due to the State’s changes, costs could increase at dispensaries for product
- The jobs market for cannabis statistically have dropped, but it’s noted that many locations had to drop to non-legal status which probably caused the employment drop
- Since Detroit and some of its surrounding dispensaries have not been approved for recreational sales, many users are resulting to buying in other cities or purchasing on the black market, neither of which help bring money to the city
- Macomb County has been one of the culprits of saying “NO” to Marijuana, and now Clinton Township is attempting to override the ban and bring approval to 24 marijuana-based businesses
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- The City of Detroit is supposedly drafting an ordinance to make sure whoever owns dispensaries in Detroit are actual citizens of Detroit. The deliberation on that ruling is supposedly March 31.
- High-profile cannabis companies that began pushing advertisements and test products have been industry exposed to not having their own grow, and are supplementing their product with other companies’ grow until theirs is ripe for the picking.
- Cannabis-friendly spaces like The Russell Industrial Center are literally having to fend off people wanting to throw event after event at their location, while others avoid cannabis-friendly events at all cost due to grey areas of legalized consumption zones.
WHEN DOES RECREATIONAL HAPPEN FOR REAL?
With this good and bad news, we still have no real deadline or indicator when recreational marijuana will become available in and around Detroit. And while we wait for the potential ordinance for Detroit to finally make way for a recreational call after March 31, we can’t help but feeling all those comments were right coming from Illinois after they pushed through their recreational bill: Michigan is an example of how NOT to legalize cannabis.
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M A C R O ? ? What’s your favorite strain & where do you get your weed?
Still, some have hope that Detroit will eventually pull through, especially since so many operations are attempting to put down roots in or around the city. But for those who hope that somehow we can bypass all of this heartache with Federal Approval, High Times (likely the real expert here) shares its thoughts as far as federal legalization:
“Barring a significant change in the air, 2020 won’t be the year federal legalization or substantial progress comes to fruition. That said, the winds of change are blowing strong, and many experts believe that breeze will carry the aroma of legal cannabis with it soon enough.”
As the industry expands, we at Detroitisit are striving to keep tabs on the going’s on in the cannabis community and will keep bringing you new information as it arises, and we hope that with every step forward, everyone can come together to make a workable and safe Cannabis Community for all.
