Michigan officials have doubled the rate at which medical marijuana businesses are being licensed after a major bureaucratic change took effect April 30.

Staff with the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency issued 40 business licenses to medical marijuana companies in May -- two times the state’s previous monthly average when licensing was under the control of a now-defunct appointed board. There are now 202 licensed medical marijuana businesses in Michigan; half of which are retail stores.

The agency also processed 122 percent more applications in May than it did when the board was in charge of licensing. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer abolished the board with an executive order earlier this year.

Agency Director Andrew Brisbo attributed the productivity increase to his staff's ability to get more work done when they don't have to prepare packets and documents for the monthly licensing board meeting.

"I think we may have even underestimated how much work went into that," Brisbo said Thursday after the first public meeting of the Marijuana Regulatory Agency.

The faster pace is a preview of what’s to come once the agency launches the recreational weed market this fall, as officials plan to use the same processes and approach for both license types. The Marijuana Regulatory Agency is promising to release emergency rules for the adult-use industry later this June, and plans to accept business applications for adult-use licenses in October.

The lag time is intended to give municipalities several months to determine whether to ban adult-use businesses or not, Brisbo said.

Officials are moving forward on launching the adult-use market as the medical marijuana market is still struggling to support itself. As of the end of May, flower grown by licensed growers accounted for 12 percent of all of the flower sold at licensed provisioning centers. It’s an improvement from the first six months of the market, when licensed product accounted for seven percent of the market.

Also Thursday at the Marijuana Regulatory Agency’s public meeting, staff with the agency announced they would be changing some of the application requirements for medical marijuana businesses to make them faster to process.

Applicants only have to submit one year of past financial statements -- not three years' worth; and supplemental applicants only have to submit property deeds and leases concerning the property they are using to back capitalization requirements -- not all properties they have interests in.

"The amount of paperwork we require at the front end has been reduced," Brisbo said.

Additionally, the application clarifies that traffic tickets don't have to be disclosed.

Previously, outstanding traffic tickets were cited by the licensing board as a reason to deny former Detroit Lion Calvin Johnson's business application.

"That specific criteria -- of having traffic offenses -- is not allowed to be a basis for denial under the statute," Brisbo.

A number of licensing denials made by the board have been overturned by an appeals hearing process. Brisbo is the ultimate decision maker in that process now that the board has been disbanded.

-- Amy Biolchini is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact her with questions, tips or comments at abiolch1@mlive.com. Read more from MLive about medical and recreational marijuana.