NILES — The owner of a little, all-in-one, adult-use marijuana shop in the city — a so-called “microbusiness” — could potentially see his or her state license fee of $8,000 chopped by more than half — under the right conditions.
First off, the city would have to allow adult-use, or recreational, marijuana businesses, which it appears poised to do.
Then, a potential business owner would have to meet certain requirements under Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency’s social equity program.
Meeting all of the requirements could cut a fee by more than half, but there could be lower levels of savings, too.
The idea is to make entering the marijuana industry more affordable for people who live in 19 communities the state has identified as disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement, and where the poverty rate is 30% or higher. Niles is one of them. Benton Harbor is another.
Also possibly making entering the industry more affordable is that — unlike with medical marijuana licensing — the state has no capitalization requirements for adult-use licensing.
About nine people came Thursday to the library to hear state officials explain the social equity program.
Jodi Walpole, of Niles, said her husband has been a medical marijuana caregiver grower and is potentially interested in a microbusiness. A microbusiness license allows an owner to grow 150 plants, process and sell all in one location.
But they learned they didn’t qualify for any of the social equity program discounts, she said. She wasn’t sure that would derail the interest, but it was a disappointment.
A threshold qualification for the program, for a 25% discount, requires residency for five consecutive years and commitment to operate in a disproportionately impacted community.
An applicant could see an additional fee reduction of 25% if he or she has a marijuana-related conviction, excluding distribution of a controlled substance to a minor.
Another 10% could be shaved off the fee if an applicant has been a registered caregiver for at least two years, between 2008 and 2017.
The fee reductions would apply not just to microbusiness licenses but to other adult-use marijuana business licenses, too.
Brenda Scoggin, of Buchanan, said she was possibly interested in a marijuana event organizer’s license.
Scoggin thinks the social equity program is important and that having two communities in Berrien County chosen for it shows “we’ve been disadvantaged for a long time.”
Part of the adult-use marijuana legalization act requires the state to promote participation in the marijuana industry by people in communities “disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement.”
To identify those communities, the state chose counties in which the total number of marijuana-related convictions exceed the average marijuana-related conviction rate for the state. From that group, the state chose communities in which 30% or more of the population live below the federal poverty level.
Jacob Nevin, an MRA social equity representative, said the state would like to see 50% of licenses issued in a community be to social equity applicants and 60% of licensees remain in business for at least five years.
MRA has been holding educational sessions in every community chosen for the social equity program once a month since August.
“We’re trying to get the word out,” Nevin said.
The next meeting in Niles is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 17 at the library.
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