Medical marijuana license applications available online, a week earlier than scheduled

LANSING —The state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs gave an early Christmas present to people who want to get into the lucrative medical marijuana business.

The department wasn’t supposed to make applications for the five categories of licenses — growers, processers, testers, secure transporters and dispensaries — until Dec. 15.

But the application was posted online Friday, giving those anxious entrepreneurs a week to fill out the 48-page application.

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The department won’t begin accepting the applications until Dec. 15 and the Michigan Medical Marijuana Licensing Board is expected to begin awarding licenses in the first quarter of 2018.

Applicants have two options:

Pre-qualification: which allows the business person to fill out and submit the application before they’ve received approval from the community where they want to locate their business or they haven’t secured a building for their business. This step will allow the state to do a full background check on the business and its owners.

License Qualification: would include all the necessary information for a license, including a location for the business and the approval from a community that has adopted an ordinance that will allow medical marijuana businesses to operate in their towns.

In order to apply for the license, a $6,000 application fee for all categories of licenses will have to be paid. The application can be submitted online, at the department or through the mail.

For more information on medical marijuana regulation, go to www.michigan.gov/LARA