As Michigan’s regulated marijuana industry battles against the state in court, the scope and importance of the sector are coming into focus.
The more than $3 billion industry accounted for roughly 52% of net private sector job creation from 2018 through 2024 in the state, according to Crain’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency.
The rapid job creation has become a key argument in the industry’s pleas to Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel and to legislators.
The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, the industry’s largest lobby group representing more than 400 companies in the industry, is suing the state in an attempt to stop the implementation of a 24% wholesale tax slated to go into effect on Jan. 1. Revenue from the new tax was a part of a road funding deal put together by lawmakers.
The industry group alleges the dead-of-night, adopt-and-amend procedure the Legislature used to pass the new tax violated the state’s Constitution, which requires a supermajority to alter a voter-initiated law. The legal arguments for both sides are in the language of the law.
Kevin Blair, a partner at Honigman and attorney representing the MICIA in its lawsuit against the state, told Patel in court last week that the industry accounts for 50,000 of the roughly 60,000 jobs created since 2018.
Crain’s could not verify that count — Rose Tantraphol, spokesperson for the MICIA, told Crain’s that figure is calculated from multiple sources and includes ancillary jobs — but it’s clear the industry has been among the fastest-growing sectors in the state since adult-use cannabis sales began in December 2019.
Read more at Crane’s Detroit
