After September 15, Can I Still be a Caregiver?

The Bureau of Medical marijuana Regulation is persevering on their position that all cannabis 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 centers are not mandated to shut down, the State Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has made clear that any facility that continues to operate after receipt of the cease and desist will most likely not be given a license. Further, the State has set forth suggested Final Rules concerning Medical Marihuana Facilities licensing, which is going to enable or registered qualifying clients to obtain house shipments from provisioning centers (with constraint, of course) and will likewise permit online ordering. So, where does that leave registered caregivers, who were anticipating to be able to remain relevant to their patients up until 2021?

Traditional Model

The old model for registered caregivers was pretty straightforward. You were permitted to grow up to twelve plants for each client. You could have 5 clients, other than yourself. If the caregiver was also a client, they could additionally grow twelve plants for personal use as well. So, a caregiver could cultivate an overall of seventy-two marihuana plants. The majority of caregivers produced far more usable marihuana from those plants than they could utilize 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 running with municipal approval, but that had not obtained a State license were permitted to proceed operating and buying from registered caregivers. Those centers were permitted to acquire caregiver excess for thirty days after receiving their State license for stock. That meant considerable revenues for caregivers and substantial supply for dispensaries.

After September 15, 2018

The troubles for registered caregivers only starts on September 15, 2018. All State licensed facilities that will stay open and operating can not buy any type of product from caregivers. State Licensed Provisioning Centers, but statute and administrative rules are strictly forbidden from getting or selling any kind of product that is not produced by a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor that has actually had their product tested and certified by a State Licensed Safety Compliance Facility. Any State Licensed Provisioning Center that is discovered to have product available that is not from a State Licensed Cultivator or Processor is subject to State sanctions on their license, consisting of temporary or irreversible abrogation of the license. Given the threat, licensed facilities are very unlikely to run the risk of buying from a caregiver, offered the prospective effects.

Even more, the unlicensed centers to whom caregivers have been continuing to sell to, even throughout the licensing process, will be shutting down. Some may continue to run, but given the State's position on centers that do not follow their cease and desist letters being looked at very adversely in the licensing process, the market will be drastically lessened, if not eliminated. Therefore, caregivers will certainly not have much recourse for marketing their overages, and also will certainly be restricted only to their current clients.

New Administrative Rules

A hearing will be held on September 17, 2018 relating to the new recommended 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 regulated online ordering. Those 2 things take away much of the role contemplated by caregivers under the new guidelines. Patients would certainly still need them to head to the provisioning facility to pick up and deliver marijuana to clients that were too ill or who were impaired and could not get to those licensed facilities to obtain their medical marijuana. With this adjustment to the administrative rules, such clients will no longer require a caregiver. They will have the ability to place an order online and have the provisioning facility deliver it to them, basically removing the need of a caregiver.

Conclusion

For better or worse, the State is doing everything it can to get rid of caregivers under the brand-new administrative plan, even before the prepared elimination in 2021 contemplated by the MMFLA. There are a great deal 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 model, and they are moving that process along with celerity. The State is sending the message that they desire caregivers out of the industry immediately, and they are developing rules to make sure that takes place sooner rather than later. The caregiver model, while valuable and required under the old Michigan Medical Marihuana Act structure, are currently going the way of the Dodo. Like everything else, the Marihuana legislations are evolving, and some things that have flourished in the past, won't make it to see the brand-new legalized era.