The city of Detroit is on the verge of allowing dozens of more recreational marijuana businesses to open.
The city council on Tuesday approved a resolution to begin accepting applications for the second phase of adult-use licenses.
During a 30-day period, the city will accept applications for up to 30 recreational dispensaries, 10 microbusinesses, and 10 consumption establishments.
Half of the licenses will go to social equity applicants as part of an effort to ensure that Black residents are represented in the legal cannabis industry. Social equity applicants must live in a community disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs or have been convicted of a marijuana-related offense in the past.
So far, the city has issued 36 adult-use cannabis retail licenses. Of those, at least 20 are social equity applicants. A total of 19 of the 34 businesses are owned by Detroiters. They include 10 Black men and seven Black women.
At the end of the 30-day application period, the city will issue licenses.
The licenses are a long time coming. While the sale of adult-use cannabis in Michigan began in December 2019, the Detroit City Council postponed issuing licenses until it could create an ordinance to make it easier for Detroiters to join the industry. What followed were several lawsuits and two separate ordinances, one of which was struck down in court in June 2021 because it gave licensing preferences to Detroiters.
The city’s second ordinance, which offers two tracks for licenses so that “equity” and “non-equity” applicants aren’t competing with each other, led to two lawsuits because the city prohibited medical cannabis dispensaries from getting a recreational license until 2027.
In August 2022, a judge dismissed the two lawsuits.
In all, the city plans to eventually award licenses to up to 100 dispensaries, 30 micro businesses, and 30 consumption lounges. Half of the licenses are expected to go to social equity applicants.
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