Running out of weed at 11:30 p.m. used to be a personal problem. These days, with individual cities and townships setting the rules on dispensary hours, it’s mostly a geography problem.

This week, I updated my annual guide to Michigan’s late-night dispensaries. And despite the turmoil in this industry lately, I’m happy to see that it’s much bigger than last year’s version.

Keep scrolling for the full rundown, as well as the story of why Michigan scientists are driving around in a weed research van, a multimillion-dollar cannabis lab with an identity crisis, and a recent US Supreme Court ruling that could make deer season a little less complicated.

Light one up and let’s get weird. 

Late-night dispensaries are one of those things you don’t think about until you need one. Maybe you overestimated how much weed you had left in your stash. Maybe some friends showed up unexpectedly. Maybe it’s 11:30 p.m. and you just can’t fall asleep without your gummies.

Whatever the reason, I just updated our guide to Michigan’s latest-closing dispensaries. Every shop on this list stays open until at least midnight. A handful of them never close at all.

DEER SEASON: Michigan stoners got a big win from the US Supreme Court. In a unanimous ruling, the court found that marijuana use alone is not enough to strip someone of their gun rights under federal law. It’s a significant legal development for Michigan hunters, sport shooters, and cannabis consumers who have spent years navigating a legal gray area. 

LAB RATS: Michigan reportedly spent roughly $4.4 million building a state-run cannabis reference laboratory designed to improve testing standards and investigate questionable results. There’s just one problem: The lab still can’t legally test marijuana products. State regulators say the facility will eventually help verify results from private testing labs, but for now it’s mostly serving as a very expensive reminder that cannabis regulations are complicated.

WEED WAGON: Michigan researchers can’t legally bring dispensary weed onto university campuses, so scientists at Michigan State University have resorted to using a customized research van instead. The mobile lab allows scientists to meet participants off-campus, document the products they’re using, and collect data on how those products affect them.

TAX MAN: Michigan lawmakers are proposing new rules that would prevent business owners from obtaining a license if they still owe cannabis-related taxes to the state. The legislation comes as lawmakers try to protect revenue from the state’s new 24% wholesale marijuana tax—which is already falling well short of projections and facing an ongoing legal challenge.

TOP COP: Brian Hanna, the executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, is taking on a bigger role as the president of the Cannabis Regulators Association—a nonprofit group representing marijuana regulators from more than 45 states and territories.

NOT SO FAST: Local residents are still pissed off after Harbor Farmz started marketing its old processing facility in Kalamazoo as a potential AI data center. But city officials say no formal plans have been submitted and no approvals have been granted.

FINAL FIVE: Click on Detroit has unveiled the finalists for its annual “Vote 4 The Best” contest, including a category for Metro Detroit’s best cannabis dispensary. The contenders: The Flower Bowl, GRAMZ, JARS, King of Budz, and Lume. Online voting is open through July 20.

ICYMI: If you missed last week’s newsletter, I put down the flower, fired up my Puffco, and spent a few days dabbing some of Michigan’s best live rosin. The result? No loser, no winner, and a newfound appreciation for just how good the top shelf has become. Read the full review here.

Last week, I asked how much you spend on weed in a typical month. The most common answer was between $100 and $200, but the rest of the results were surprisingly evenly spread out. Nearly as many readers reported spending less than $50 a month as spending more than $300.

I guess cannabis cuts across tax brackets. Whether you’re stretching an eighth for weeks or treating the dispensary like a second utility bill, you’re apparently reading this newsletter.

This week’s question:

Do you tip your budtender?

Stay tuned. I’ll have the results in next week’s edition. 

Good weed is getting harder to find in Michigan.

It seems a lot of growers nowadays are rushing their harvest, and I keep getting burned by flower that’s too dry, too moist, or just poorly handled before it reaches the dispensary shelf.

That’s why I keep coming back to Growing Pains.

This Paw Paw grower has built one of the most trusted brands in the state by obsessing over the part most cultivation operations skip—the drying, curing, and slow hand-trimming after the harvest. I took a tour of the facility back in April, and it’s clear the standards are still just as high.

Their latest strain is called Cranberry Z. And it’s easily one of the best strains I’ve smoked all year. I grabbed a half-ounce from Cake House to get through the long weekend for $90.

It’s a cross of Z (also known as Zkittlez) and Cranberry with a candy-forward flavor and a sweet berry twist. Gassy and fruity on the nose, citrus and tang on the finish, smooth start to end. It’s the kind of weed that I’d smoke every day, if only my wallet could keep up with my grinder. 

Lume is running an Independence Day giveaway, and the grand prize hits close to home: A three-night trip to Leelanau wine country for you and five of your friends or family members.

I spent a summer working in Leelanau once, between journalism jobs, back when I lived Up North. The work mostly amounted to standing in a tasting room pouring free samples for bachelorette parties. But it’s one of my fondest memories from that whole stretch of my life.

The grand prize includes a stay at the Dune Bird House, plus $1,000 in dining gift cards and $100 for gas. Just buy two or more Splash, Fresh Coast, or Ritual products in a single transaction before July 5 and you’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win.

Each of Lume’s 40 dispensaries is also giving away a $250 gift card next month as a secondary prize—all just for buying weed that you were probably going to buy anyway. 

If you’ve never been to Horrocks Farm Market, you need to check it out. It’s a Greater Lansing institution—part farm market, part grocery store, part beer-and-wine destination, with a greenhouse and food trucks parked out back. It’s one of the easiest places to lose two hours.

But most of the time, it’s a total zoo.

So, here’s some local knowledge: Try showing up before 8 a.m. In the early morning hours, this place is a completely different universe. Every aisle is empty. Every shelf is stocked. Nothing is out of place. And if you show up totally baked, it can be a downright spiritual experience.

That’s me in the parking lot with a pack of Cowboy Killers from Gus’ Real Exotics. I’m a sucker for packaging, and these are dressed up like a pack of Marlboros, so I had to grab them. The gimmick only works at a distance though; inside were just three plain cones in separate tubes.

The strain was Stoned Island, which had some serious Runtz and candy energy. It was uplifting but not in a productive way—more of a dazed, glad-this-store-is-empty sort of way. 

I still don’t know how I spent almost $100. But I do know I made the most of the munchies. I made it home a few hours later with a haul of snacks that didn’t even survive the weekend.

Stay safe out there ‘Ganders. Remember that recreational cannabis is only legal in Michigan for ages 21 and up—and it’s NEVER OK to get high and drive.