Michigan lawmakers are considering placing limits on how many marijuana dispensaries can exist in a certain area. A bill heard before the state Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee would cap retail licenses at one per each 10,000 residents of a municipality.
Proposed legislation would also stop the state from approving new licenses for large-scale growing operations.
Package co-sponsor Senator Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) compared it to how the state handles liquor licenses.
“There is a population number for the amount of restaurant alcohol that you have in a community and, based on the size and so forth, there’s an X amount of liquor licenses,” Singh said during committee testimony on Wednesday.
The bills received support from both state regulators and cannabis groups. Some see it as a way to through the industry a bone after lawmakers passed a new 24% wholesale tax on marijuana sales earlier this month.
Robin Schneider leads the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association. She said over-licensing has saturated the market and sent retailers racing to the bottom.
“That is a way to drive the price down in a way that is unhealthy for our industry, all the way down to the growers. It just devalues their product even more. It’s not going to fix it overnight. We’re looking for light at the end of the tunnel,” Schneider said.
Michigan Senate bills would also revamp how hemp products are regulated in the state.
That package would put hemp under the supervision of the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). It would also open the door for more CBD and other hemp-derived consumable products to hit store shelves.
Derek Sova, with the CRA, said the bills would allow “nonintoxicating” consumable hemp products, like drinks or edibles.
“So, if you wanted to put CBD into a product for whatever reason. You could do that, and you could sell it and we have a system set up in this bill that would regulate it and make sure those products are safe. So again, that’s sort of opening up a market that does not currently exist,” Sova said.
The new path to stores would come as lawmakers try to cut back on largely unregulated products currently sold at gas stations and smoke shops.
Senator Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia) is a package sponsor.
“By passing these bills, we can ensure that hemp products intended for consumption are subject to the necessary safety, testing, and labeling standards that our constituents expect and deserve,” Polehanki said.
Throughout the committee hearing, however, lawmakers heard several different viewpoints from around the hemp and cannabis industry about how to tweak the legislation.
For example, Hemp Beverage Alliance founder Christopher Lackner said drinks would be better off regulated by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC).
“It’s going to be a great opportunity, it’s going to create tax revenue. And you can do all of this within the existing alcohol distribution system and the MLCC that regulates it,” he said.
But Joe Maricelli, a manager at the cannabis and hemp testing lab, InfiniteCal, said hemp beverages need the same level of regulation as cannabis drinks.
“Without parity in oversight, we risk compromising consumer safety and unfairly disadvantaging businesses that follow more stringent guidelines,” Maricelli said.
Other speakers noted concerns with how the legislation would differentiate non-intoxicating hemp products and some of the other standards listed out.
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