#Lume marquette license… I applaud the people who thought this up and researched it.”Įven so, Wrigley remains unsure how the MRA can grant a license to a company to operate within a sovereign nation where it has no jurisdiction. You know what it is? It’s innovation, it’s imagination, it’s utilizing the brains that we’re given. “They had to have a helluva lobbyist,” said Ben Wrigley, Jr., partner at Grand Rapids-based Cannalex Law. The regulatory agency took the novel approach of recognizing the sovereign tribal nations in the same manner as any other municipality in approving Lume’s licenses. These tribal nations did not put a prohibitive ordinance in place.” “Under MRTMA, you had to take action, you had to put a prohibitive ordinance in place, and there are many townships and villages that did. “The MRA will issue a license to an applicant in a municipality as long as there is not a prohibitive ordinance in place,” Harns said. Industry sources told MiBiz the company’s decision to go through the Marijuana Regulatory Agency likely was necessary to ensure the legal status of its existing licensed supply chain.ĭavid Harns, the interim director of communications for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the body that oversees the Marijuana Regulatory Agency, acknowledged that a company seeking state licensure for business activity on tribal lands “is definitely a different situation.” The state-licensed stores on tribal lands also will collect excise and sales taxes on the products sold from the stores. As such, the state Marijuana Regulatory Agency lacks jurisdiction over tribal lands, yet Lume and the tribes opted to go through the state’s licensing process for the locations. The same tribal sovereignty the company is leveraging to skirt local ordinances prohibiting marijuana businesses within their boundaries also applies to state law, including the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA) voters passed in 2018 that established the adult-use market. “As you can imagine, the word spreads and they get curious.” “Yes, we are actively in development with other tribes at this time,” said Doug Hellyar, president and COO of Lume Cannabis Co. More deals with Michigan-based tribes are also in the works. That’s in addition to the two northern Lower Peninsula locations the company opened in July on lands held in trust for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, representatives of which did not respond to requests for comment. Marie location, Lume said that it had committed to opening an additional five dispensaries on the Sault Tribe’s trust lands throughout its seven-county service area, which goes as far west as Marquette and Delta counties in the central Upper Peninsula. “We do have a couple of advantages.” ‘A different situation’ “The other municipalities may choose not to participate, and we may, which gives market opportunities in certain areas that wouldn’t exist without our participation,” Schultz said. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians that is leasing trust land to Lume in Sault Ste. “We govern our lands that are often located within other municipalities,” said Joel Schultz, executive director of Sault Tribe Economic Development, the non-gaming arm of the Sault Ste. However, local and state restrictions do not apply to lands in those communities that are held in trust for federally recognized American Indian tribes, which are sovereign nations under federal law. Marie in the eastern Upper Peninsula after receiving license approval from the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency.Įach of the municipalities surrounding the company’s stores opted out of the state’s recreational marijuana market, as allowed under the 2018 law passed by voters that legalized the drug. Last month, Troy-based Lume opened retail dispensaries in Bear Lake Township near Petoskey and in Mackinaw City, its ninth and tenth stores in the state, and announced plans for a dispensary in Sault Ste. has figured out a way to open retail marijuana dispensaries within communities that have blocked businesses that participate in Michigan’s adult-use market.įor the vertically integrated marijuana company, the strategy lies in leveraging the benefits of tribal sovereignty, while simultaneously operating within the state’s regulatory scheme for the industry.
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