Here is an excerpt of the column I wrote for Dome Magazine, published on Friday:
By Chad Selweski
The news that Michigan faces substantial budget deficits again has prompted the pro-marijuana crowd to call for quick approval of a tax-and-regulation bill for prescribed pot that would help plug the projected $460 million hole in the state’s finances.
Yet, the medical marijuana distribution bills that have been stalled in Lansing could pave the way for generating hundreds of millions of dollars per year — but not to significantly enhance state revenues. Instead, the plan could the pockets of out-of-state tobacco companies. Or some of Michigan’s beer and wine wholesalers.
Yes, the same companies that deliver suds and sauvignon blanc to your local party store might want to gain a piece of the action as legislators struggle to create an organized system for supplying medical marijuana across the state. Eight years after Michigan voters approved pot smoking for the sick or those in chronic pain, there are still virtually no rules to follow.
As early as next Tuesday, revised legislation — a compromise reached earlier this week by various players involved — will be presented to keep the tobacco and beer distribution companies at bay. Because Senate Republicans are so divided on this issue, an attempt will be made at a discharge motion, which would bypass the Senate Judiciary Committee and bring the new bill to the Senate floor.
Lawmakers seek to regulate a fledgling industry that many local officials believe is out of control, with hundreds of rogue or illegal pot “dispensaries” surfacing. Because so much money is at stake in this business, especially if recreational use of weed is soon legalized, powerful interests have jockeyed in the state Capitol for an inside track to profit from the transport of medical marijuana to retailers or clinics.
“Rather than have 10 billionaires come out of this, I’d like to have a thousand millionaires, and many more ‘$100,000-aires,’” said Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, who has been working on the marijuana distribution issue for nearly six years. “We … just need to make sure that a lot of people benefit from a homegrown industry.”
Continue reading here.
