Thanks to ClickonDetroit for this:
DETROIT – After years of back-and-forth, court battles and intense debate, the Detroit City Council has finally approved the city’s recreational marijuana ordinance.
The ordinance was approved by an 8-1 vote Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
The application process for recreational dispensaries begins soon. If you want to open one, keep watching for more information.
There will be 100 retail licenses, and they’ll be issued in phases. A lottery system will be used, but half of the licenses are reserved for social equity applicants.
Detroit native Jerome Crawford is the director of legal operations and social equity at Pleasantrees Michigan. Their closest recreational marijuana dispensary to Detroit is in Hamtramck. Crawford said he’s excited about the decision.
“I want to see us win in the industry, and I want to see, actually, our real estate in our city and our neighborhoods have a chance to reap the benefits,” Crawford said.
“The problem with medical is most medical holders are no longer renewing their cards, and most folks do not want to have medical cards,” he said. “They don’t want to have to go through a whole process of getting a card from the state to purchase cannabis when they could just use their ID and be 21 and up.”
Jimmie Caudill, with The REEF Detroit, another medical dispensary in the city, said Tuesday’s approval was a game changer.
“Now that they have something set in stone, it’s really a huge relief and a lot of weight off of Detroit’s shoulders,” Caudill said. “With how many tourists come to the city of Detroit, they just think that we’re recreational because the whole state is a recreational state. So we have to turn away a lot of people with phone calls, people that walk into the store.”
Licensed medical dispensaries already in Detroit still have to apply to be able to sell recreationally.
