LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)–Recreational marijuana will be legal in Michigan in just over a week, and people who are already working in the marijuana industry say they’re excited for Lansing to experience the benefits that come with legalization.

Attorney Jeffrey Hank is the co-owner of Edgewood Wellness, one of the first ten medical marijuana centers that the city approved yesterday. He says he’s excited to bring the benefits of legal marijuana to the city, starting with the jobs he says the industry will provide.

“For Lansing it means a lot of things,” Hank said. “We’re, for example, as a company looking to hire about 200 people in the city to work at our grow facilities and our retail stores. So that’s a big deal compared to, you know, where we were a few months ago.”

Hank also says even people who don’t consume marijuana or work in the industry will benefit in some ways.

“Even if you don’t use or like marijuana, I think you probably like having better roads and better schools and having the police go after real criminals. And you and your family or community members are gonna benefit a lot more from that “

Those changes won’t happen right away, however. Hank says it could take months for all of Lansing to notice the effects of the legalization.



“I think we’re gonna start to see uh the medical licenses be approved here in Lansing,” Hank says, “and slowly, you know over the next six months to a year that’ll transition into stores that provide both adult-use marijuana and medical marijuana.”

But he says he’s confident that even the harshest critics won’t be able to deny the good it will do for Lansing.