On Monday, September 27, Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency will hold a public hearing on draft administrative rules updating all of the State’s current cannabis-related rules other than for hemp. The deadline to provide written public comments is that Monday at 5:00 PM.

In a six-part series, we outline the substantive proposed changes in each of ten draft rule sets and then will conclude with coverage of next week’s hearing. Today, we cover the rule sets for Marihuana Sale or Transfer (Rules 420.501 to 420.510) and Marihuana Employees (Rules 420.601 to 420.602a). Rules without substantive changes are not included.

Marihuana Sale or Transfer

  • R 420.502 Tracking identification; labeling requirements; general.
    • Expired product would be ineligible for transfer or sale, and must be destroyed.
    • Product required to be destroyed would have to be destroyed within 90 days of the licensee becoming aware that the product must be destroyed.
  • R 420.503a Sale or transfer of immature plant batches from a cultivator to a marihuana sales location. This new proposed rule would permit a cultivator to sell immature plants to a sales location, without using secure transport, so long as the cultivator has complied with MRA’s bulletin on immature plant transfers.
  • R 420.504 Marihuana product sale or transfer; labeling and packaging requirements.
    • Instead of listing the net weight of products in “US customary and metric units,” products would only need to list weight in metric units.
    • The following warning would be required on all products: “WARNING: USE BY PREGNANT OR BREASTFEEDING WOMEN, OR BY WOMEN PLANNING TO BECOME PREGNANT, MAY RESULT IN FETAL INJURY, PRETERM BIRTH, LOW BIRTH WEIGHT, OR DEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS FOR THE CHILD.” (This is a fairly recently added statutory requirement that is just being added to the rules.)
    • Sales locations would need to create and make available a safety pamphlet about the dangers of marijuana use by minors. Pamphlets would be mandated to substantially conform to a design that the MRA will publish on its website. The pamphlet requirement itself is a recently added statutory requirement.
  • R 420.508 Trade samples.
    • Would clarify that trade samples may not be sold or transferred to any other licensee or consumer. The previous language only prohibited trade samples from being sold.
    • Would clarify that only Growers and Processors can provide trade samples.
    • Would add limits to how much trade sample product a processor or sales location could transfer to each of its employees as an internal product sample within a 30 day period: (A) 1 ounce of marijuana; (B) 2 grams of marijuana concentrate; and (C) marijuana-infused products with a total THC content of 2000 mgs.
  • R 420.509 Internal product samples. The maximum amount of samples that could be transferred by a sales location to an employee within a 30 day period would be the same as above. All internal product samples would need to pass safety compliance testing before being transferred to an employee.
  • R 420.510 Product development.
    • Would clarify that all transfers of product development inventory must be entered in METRC.
    • Product development inventory transferred to employees would count toward the monthly limits on transferring trade samples and internal samples.
    • Would apply all labelling requirements to any product development inventory transferred to a sales location.

Marihuana Employees Rule Set

  • R 420.602 Employees; requirements. Would require that all MRTMA licensees have a responsible operations plan with detailed explanation of how employees will prevent over-intoxication, underage access to the establishment, illegal sale of marihuana in the establishment, and any potential criminal activity.
  • R 420.602a Prohibitions. This new rule would provide that an employee of a cultivator, processor, or sales location may not also be employed by either a secure transporter or laboratory. Similarly, an employee of a secure transporter or laboratory could not also be an employee of any other licensee.

Check back tomorrow for our final installment on the proposed rules themselves. Next week, we will cover the public hearing on these proposed rules.