After September 15, Can I Still be a Caregiver?

The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is standing firm on their stance that all cannabis centers that are not licensed by the State under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, will have to close 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 made clear that any center that continues to run after receipt of the cease and desist will likely not be granted a license. Additionally, the State has stated recommended Final Rules relating to Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to allow or registered qualifying clients to receive house deliveries from provisioning centers (with limitation, of course) and will certainly additionally permit online buying. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, that were anticipating to be able to stay relevant to their clients up until 2021?

Traditional

The old for registered caregivers was rather simple. You were allowed to grow up to twelve plants for each client. You could have 5 clients, apart from yourself. If the caregiver was also a patient, they could additionally grow twelve plants for personal use also. So, a caregiver could grow an overall of seventy-two marihuana plants. Most caregivers generated far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could make use of for clients and individual use. 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 actually not gotten a State license were allowed to continue running and buying from registered caregivers. Those centers were allowed to buy caregiver overages for thirty days after receiving their State license for supply. That indicated considerable profits for caregivers as well as significant supply for dispensaries.

After September 15, 2018

The problems for registered caregivers only starts on September 15, 2018. All State licensed centers that will continue to be open and operating can not buy any type of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly prohibited from acquiring or selling any type of product that is not produced by a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor that has actually had their item tested and certified by a State Licensed Safety Compliance Facility. Any State Licensed Provisioning Center that is found to have product for sale that is not from a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, consisting of short-term or irreversible cancellation of the license. Given the danger, licensed centers are really unlikely to take the chance of buying from a caregiver, offered the prospective effects.

Further, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to sell to, even throughout the licensing procedure, will certainly be shutting down. Some might continue to run, but given the State's position on centers that do not comply with their cease and desist letters being looked at very adversely in the licensing process, the market will be seriously decreased, if not eliminated. Because of this, caregivers will not have much recourse for offering their excess, as well as will be limited only to their present patients.

New Administrative Rules

A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 pertaining to the new suggested final administrative rules for the regulation of medical marihuana facilities, which will become effective in November, when the emergency rules cease being effective. Those final suggested administrative rules enable home delivery by a provisioning center, and will additionally permit managed online ordering. Those 2 things remove much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the brand-new rules. Clients would certainly still need them to visit the provisioning center to pick up and deliver marijuana to patients that were too ill or that were impaired and can not reach those licensed facilities to obtain their medical marijuana. With this adjustment to the administrative rules, such clients will no longer need a caregiver. They will have the ability to place an order online and have the provisioning center deliver it to them, basically eliminating the need of a caregiver.

Verdict

For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to eliminate caregivers under the brand-new administrative scheme, even before the intended removal in 2021 contemplated by the mmfla. There are a lot of reasons 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 as soon as possible, and they are establishing guidelines to guarantee that happens 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 regulations are evolving, and some things that have thrived in the past, will not make it to see the new legalized era.