The director of Michigan’s marijuana regulatory agency — Andrew Brisbo — announced on Thursday that license fees for legal medical marijuana businesses will follow a tier-based system come October 1. The new system, wherein companies would pay fee based on their size, will bring relief to many medium-scale businesses.
“We are looking to make the fees reasonably related to the size of the operation, so businesses pay an equitable share,” Brisbo told the media.
Regulations under the Present system
Under the present regulations, small-scale cultivation companies can apply for a Class A license, which costs $10,000, once, of course, the company has been approved by the state. Other businesses are supposed to pay a whopping $66,000, up from the original $48,000 that they were required to pay up until July 2018. Notably, marijuana testing labs are not required to pay any license fee.
Regulations under the new system w.e.f October 1
The new system will not see any fee changes for Class A growers. However, other businesses will have to pay a fee according to a 3-tier-system. Class B growers and processors will pay license fees of $24,000, $30,000, or $36,000 based on the size of the operation; while its Class C counterpart will pay $45,000, $56,000, or $67,000. Provisioning centers, better known as dispensaries, and secure transporters, will pay $36,000, $44,000 or $52,000.
The figures of the new fee system have been set to cover the costs of regulating the state’s medical marijuana industry. “We try to set the fees simply to offset the fees of our agency and the other costs built in from the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA),” Brisbo said
What about the recreational weed license fee?
The license fee for recreational marijuana businesses will be lower than the medical ones. Renewing a pot license will cost a company somewhere between $20,000 to $30,000; while a license for the medical firm would take something between $36,000 to $52,000 to renew.
Notably, the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Authority will begin accepting pot license applications from November 1.
