MICHIGAN—Hulk Juice is off the shelves, a Flock camera is off the pole, older adults are getting higher than ever, and a Republican who didn’t want your vote in 2018 is suddenly promising to cut your taxes. It’s been another busy week in Michigan cannabis.
Here’s what you might’ve missed:
BIRD DOWN: Madison Heights and JARS reached a settlement that removes the Flock license plate reader the city had required at the dispensary’s parking lot entrance. Still, another Flock camera sits about 50 yards away—though that one faces the street rather than the parking lot.
HULK SMASH: Season 3, a Kalamazoo company, is voluntarily recalling nine flavors of “Nuggz Nectar” infused drinks—including one called “Hulk Juice”—after testing suggested they may exceed the state’s THC limits. No adverse reactions have been reported. The drinks were sold at four Great Lakes Holistics stores in Muskegon, Lansing, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo.
GRAY MARKET: More than one in five adults between 55 and 65 years old have used cannabis in the past year, according to new federal survey data compiled by the University of Michigan. That marks the highest share that age group has ever reported. About 15% of baby boomers surveyed also said they had used a cannabis product sometime within the last 30 days.
GREENING OUT: Stephen Kekelik of IndiGrow in Muskegon—who was featured here a few weeks ago—is pushing back on a new CDC report about Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome, the cycles of severe nausea and vomiting reportedly tied to heavy cannabis use. Kekelik suspects the real culprit is the unregulated hemp stuff being sold online and at gas stations and is calling for federal cannabis legalization so that somebody can actually study the issue.
PANDER BEAR: Republican gubernatorial candidate John James opposed legalizing weed in Michigan. Now he’s promising to reduce the state’s 24% wholesale tax—a pitch aimed squarely at the same stoners whose votes he didn’t want in 2018. NORML still gives him a D-.
CAPPED OFF: Menominee is getting sued again over its nine-dispensary cap. JGB Holdings—the parent company of Levels Cannabis and Wild Bill’s Tobacco—filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the city promised it a retail license before voters approved the cap, and that it spent more than $1.75 million on the property before the rules were abruptly changed.
SECOND ACT: Felicia Legardy, a longtime childcare provider in Detroit, is closing up shop this month and opening a 4,700-square-foot cannabis cultivation operation instead.
ICYMI: If you missed last week’s newsletter, I reviewed four bags of weed from a team of growers who clearly give a damn about their product. There wasn’t a weak strain in this lineup. And weed that’s cured this well, this sticky, with terpenes this loud usually costs far more.
READ MORE: Michigan’s most hyped weed strain is named after a psychedelic toad
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