New Medical Marijuana Laws Go Into Effect Across Michigan
DETROIT (WWJ) - New medical marijuana laws go into effect across Michigan on Tuesday.
The laws center around creating a new structure and set of business regulations for the still-budding industry.
Matt Abel, executive director of Michigan NORML, a pro-pot group, says the changes include a new category of marijuana-infused products.
"In addition to dried leaves and flowers being legal to possess for patients, the legislature has added the words resin and extract, so now concentrated forms of cannabis will be legal in Michigan ... and topical oils and ointments, tinctures, which are a liquid that someone might put under their tongue, beverages and edibles."
The new laws, which were signed by Gov. Rick Snyder this fall, imposes a new tax on dispensary shops and establishes a state licensing system to grow, process, sell, transport or test marijuana. A monitoring system will also track marijuana from "seed to sale."
[Michigan's New Medical Marijuana Legislation: What Patients Need To Know]
More than 211,000 qualifying patients now grow their own marijuana plants or obtain the drug from nearly 37,000 registered caregivers under the voter-approved 2008 law.