Recreational Marijuana Licenses Coming by November’s End

The Cannabis Business Times reports that Michigan is expected to issue the first Adult-Use Cannabis Business Licenses by the end of November:

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency received 58 applications for pre-qualification and 43 for operating license applications in the week after the state opened its licensing process on Nov. 1, the news outlet reported.

The adult-use licensing process in the state is moving much faster than the medical cannabis licensing process, which opened in December 2017 and did not issue its first pre-qualification approval until April 2018, the news outlet reported.

Marijuana Regulatory Agency Spokesman David Harns told The Detroit News that the quick turnaround is partly due to the removal of the licensing board that oversaw Michigan’s medical cannabis business licensing process. The state’s adult-use law is also less complex than its medical cannabis law, he added.

The state has not capped the number of adult-use cannabis business licenses, but the law allows local communities to limit the location or number of cannabis facilities within their borders, The Detroit News reported. Nearly 1,400 municipalities have opted out of adult-use cannabis sales, according to the news outlet.