After September 15, Can I Still be a Caregiver?

The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation is standing firm on their stance that all marijuana centers that are not licensed by the State under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act, will have to shut 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 explained that any center that continues to operate after receipt of the cease and desist will very likely not be granted a license. Additionally, the State has stated recommended Final Rules pertaining to Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to enable or registered qualifying patients to receive house deliveries from provisioning centers (with limitation, obviously) as well as will certainly additionally allow online purchasing. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were expecting to be able to stay relevant to their clients up until 2021?

Traditional Model

The old model for registered caregivers was quite basic. You were allowed to grow up to twelve plants for each client. You could have five patients, besides yourself. If the caregiver was also a patient, they could additionally grow twelve plants for individual usage as well. So, a caregiver could grow an overall of seventy-two marihuana plants. The majority of caregivers produced far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could use 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 received a State license were permitted to continue running as well as purchasing from registered caregivers. Those facilities were allowed to get caregiver excess 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 issues for registered caregivers only begins on September 15, 2018. All State licensed centers that will continue to be open and operating can not buy any kind of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly prohibited from getting or selling any item 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 discovered to have product up for sale that is not from a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, including short-term or irreversible retraction of the license. Given the risk, licensed centers are very unlikely to risk purchasing from a caregiver, given the potential consequences.

Better, the unlicensed facilities to whom caregivers have been continuing to sell to, even throughout the licensing process, will be shutting down. Some might continue to run, but given the State's position on facilities that do not comply with their cease and desist letters being looked at very unfavorably in the licensing process, the market will be seriously decreased, if not eliminated. As a result, caregivers will certainly not have much choice for selling their overages, as well as will be restricted only to their current patients.

New Administrative Rules

A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 relating to the new proposed final administrative rules for the regulation of medical marihuana facilities, which will become effective in November, when the emergency rules discontinue being effective. Those final suggested administrative rules allow for home delivery by a provisioning center, and will likewise permit managed online purchasing. Those two things remove much of the function contemplated by caregivers under the brand-new policies. Patients would certainly still require them to visit the provisioning center to get and deliver marijuana to clients that were too sick or who were disabled and could not reach those licensed facilities to obtain their medical marijuana. With this change 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, essentially eliminating the requirement of a caregiver.

Final thought

For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to remove caregivers under the new administrative scheme, even before the prepared elimination in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a great deal of factors 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 desire caregivers out of the marketplace asap, and they are establishing regulations to make sure that takes place 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 laws are evolving, and some things that have flourished in the past, will not make it to see the brand-new legalized era.