Michigan has created the Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation to centralize all aspects of medical marijuana regulation, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs reports. 

The new bureau, housed in LARA, combines the existing oversight functions of the state's patient and caregiver registry with the newly established statutory requirements for medical marijuana facility licensing. 

"BMMR's organizational structure puts Michigan at the forefront of state medical marijuana regulation," LARA Director Shelly Edgerton said. "Many other states have various licenses and patient programs spread throughout different departments and agencies." 

Centralized services will enhance patient protections and make regulations more efficient for business customers, she said. 

BMMR is in the process of implementing the regulatory framework created by legislation signed by Gov. Snyder in September 2016. Regulatory functions include the licensing, investigation and enforcement of medical marijuana growers, processors, secure transporters, provisioning centers and safety compliance facilities.

The legislation requires the bureau to make licensing applications available by December 15, 2017.

BMMR has selected Franwell, Inc., a technology company, to administer the state's monitoring and tracking system.

The system will provide the bureau with detailed inventory information, track medical marijuana in all its forms from "seed to sale" and help ensure the legal manufacturing, transportation and financial transaction of medical marijuana in Michigan, LARA said. 

The bureau will also house the Michigan Medical Marihuana Program (MMMP), the state patient and caregiver registry that currently contains more than 240,000 active patients and 40,000 active caregivers. 

The Senate Fiscal Agency projects Michigan's medical marijuana market to be worth $711.4 million, and related taxes under the new law would raise about $21.3 million per year to be split between municipalities, counties, State General Fund/First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund, county sheriffs, the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, and the Department of State Police. 

Attorney Jeffrey Hank, Chair of MI Legalize, the group working to bring the issue of legal recreational marijuana to voters, called the creation of the BMMR "more unnecessary bureaucracy" that wastes taxpayer money.

He said there's no need for the secure transport provisions of the law, which requires commercial entities to be licensed to legally transport marijuana from one facility to another, and that the requirement opens the door for special interests to make money off of the system. 

He believes it shouldn't take the state this long to set up the new system, he said, and the longer it takes means less jobs and tax revenues and "we all lose."