It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly three years since the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency announced that it was seeking stakeholder feedback on proposed changes to its administrative rule sets. The process started in May 2023, with CRA releasing a list of topics and proposed changes to the rules that it was considering. After receiving and considering a substantial amount of comments and stakeholder feedback, CRA then proceeded to undertake a comprehensive rewriting of its administrative rules.

The product of CRA’s work was made public in November 2024 when CRA released its draft proposed administrative rules. Pursuant to the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act, a public hearing was held on the administrative rules on May 6, 2025, and CRA received substantial oral comment at the hearing from 38 different individuals and nearly 600 pages of written comments on the draft rule set.

After reviewing all of the comments received, CRA revised the proposed rules, which then underwent several stages of review from a number of different agencies, including the Legislative Services Bureau, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, and the Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules (“MOAHR”).

On May 11, 2026, the final stage of review was completed, as the draft proposed rules were finally approved by MOAHR. Industry stakeholders who are interested in viewing the changes made in response to comments should carefully review the redline that we have prepared, which is available here.

The next step in the rulemaking process is for the proposed rules, together with a yet-to-be-seen agency report, to be filed with the Michigan Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (“JCAR”). CRA’s report must summarize the comments received on the proposed rules and any changes that CRA made, together with the rationale for the changes.

Once the proposed rules are filed with JCAR, JCAR has several options, which are summarized on this handy flowchart. Given the breadth of the changes and the current state of the cannabis industry, it’s reasonable to expect that the JCAR committee members will face pressure to hold hearings on the proposed rules, as this is the proverbial “last shot” to lobby for changes before the proposed rules become law.

One area of concern on the “final” proposed rules is the deletion of proposed R 420.1005, which would have finally implemented the law’s mandate that CRA promulgate a rule setting a limit on the total amount of THC that an industrial hemp product may contain, as required by MCL 333.27958(1)(n). This statutory requirement was added to the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act back in 2021 to address the proliferation of Delta-8 THC products. Despite criticism, CRA never attempted to fulfill the Legislature’s mandate until it finally proposed draft rules in November 2024 to establish the required limit. That proposed rule has now been deleted in its entirety, which is curious, to say the least.

Industry stakeholders should carefully review the proposed rules—and pay close attention to the extensive changes that CRA has made in response to the comments received. The cannabis industry has become an intense source of legislative focus in recent months, so it’s critically important that industry stakeholders use every opportunity to provide feedback and voice any concerns about the proposed rules.

We’ll have more to come once CRA prepares its agency report and the proposed rules are filed with JCAR. We encourage all industry stakeholders looking to weigh in on the proposed rules before JCAR to reach out sooner rather than later. There is a limited window to meaningfully participate in this process, so it’s critical to act timely. Given that this process has already taken three years, it appears likely that this proposed ruleset—when it finally goes into effect—will be with the industry for years to come.