MMFLA UPDATE: Educational Sessions

[Guest Josh_Colton]

LARA Announces Medical Marihuana Educational Sessions; BMMR to show potential licensees the application process, monitoring system

Media Contact: LARA Communications 517-373-9280
Email: mediainfo@michigan.gov

October 9, 2017 – The Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) and the Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation (BMMR) announced today the dates, times and locations of a series of educational sessions designed to familiarize potential licensees with the application process and the statewide monitoring system.

Employees of LARA and BMMR will be on hand during the in-person sessions to show attendees the license application process for each of the five license categories:

• Grower
• Processor
• Secure Transporter
• Provisioning Center
• Safety Compliance Facility

While applications will not be completed during these events, attendees will be able to familiarize themselves with the process – and what will be required – when the applications become available on Dec. 15, 2017.

Representatives from Franwell – the company chosen to implement Michigan’s statewide monitoring system for integrated marihuana tracking, inventory, and verification under the Marihuana Tracking Act – will be present at each of the five medical marihuana educational sessions to demonstrate Franwell’s Metrc, the seed-to-sale tracking system, to potential licensees.

Metrc is a cloud-hosted, real-time, online software reporting system that will be used by licensed Michigan medical marihuana businesses to manage and report supply chain activities as required by state rules. Metrc uses serialized tags attached to every plant – and labels attached to wholesale packages – to track medical marijuana inventory through different stages of growth, as well the drying and curing processes.

The educational sessions will take place in five locations throughout the state:

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017
Oakland Community College, 27055 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills, MI

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017
Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Road, University Center, MI

Monday, Nov. 13, 2017
Great Wolf Lodge, 3575 North US Highway 31 South, Traverse City, MI

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017
Wing’s Conference Center, 3600 Vanrick Drive, Kalamazoo, MI

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017
Kellogg Conference Center, 219 South Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI

The Nov. 9 and Nov. 15 events will also be live-streamed on the BMMR website at www.michigan.gov/medicalmarihuana 

All events begin at 9:00 AM and end at 12:00 PM. There is no cost to attend the medical marihuana educational sessions but – due to space constraints – potential licensees and their representatives must all register at https://www.metrc.com/michigan by 5:00 PM on Nov. 1, 2017 to guarantee themselves entrance to the event. Click “Sign up for Educational Sessions” and then choose the appropriate date.

The LARA educational sessions are not board meetings and there will not be time set aside for public comment. The educational sessions will be informative presentations of processes for Metrc (the statewide monitoring system) and Accela (the application process) that will be utilized by future licensees and/or potential applicants and will not interfere with the authority of the Medical Marihuana Licensing Board or the Advisory Panel as provided under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act.

Attendance at the educational sessions will not affect a potential licensee’s application. All interested members of the public will be able to participate in future training opportunities whether they attend the educational sessions or not. Any information or feedback provided at the educational sessions is merely advisory.

Members of the media are asked to RSVP to David Harns by calling 517-373-6963 or emailing HarnsD1@michigan.gov.