Is Michigan Profiting From Its Medical Marijuana Program?

Although the state is issuing fewer medical marijuana registry cards, a recent report indicates that the Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the agency overseeing the medical marijuana program, spent more money printing cards in 2014 than the year before. Not only that, but the state appears to be making money off the deal.

In 2013, the state reportedly issued 145,000 medical marijuana cards, which set them back to the tune of $4 million. However, the state only issued 119,000 cards in 2014, but it somehow cost the agency nearly $6 million. This is concerning because all of these funds – a total of $27 million collected in 2014 -- comes directly from fees paid by Michigan’s medical marijuana community --- patients and caregivers. Yet, the program is not fully functional, as legislation that would allow patients to benefit from dispensaries and edibles cannot seem to be sorted out.

Michigan is not set up to profit from its medical marijuana program, and no one seems sure what the state is doing with the extra cash.

“Perhaps some of the excess funds could have been reimbursed to patients, since the state is not intended to profit from the MMMP program,” said Matthew Abel, with the Michigan chapter of NORML. “If the state wants to profit, then we should move toward legalization and collect state sales tax on marijuana. If we did that, perhaps we could fix and maintain the roads without raising the sales tax.”

Cannabis advocates suggest medical marijuana patients should get involved with pro-marijuana organizations in an effort to push the state towards a more well defined program. “There are at least 1,000,000 people in the state who qualify for the [medical marijuana] program,” said Brad Forrester, with Michigan NORML. “If those people ever want access to medical cannabis treatment options, they better get involved with one or more of the organizations lobbying legislators, like Michigan NORML, National Patients Rights Association or Americans for Safe Access to encourage legislators to pass laws that broaden access to medical cannabis treatment options, not make access more restrictive.”