Some Michiganders have access to a lot of great weed. Provisioning centers have it. “Legacy” sellers — aka the illicit market — have it. And your cousin’s #frostynugs are blowing up your feed. So, if you can get high-quality pot anywhere, does it matter whether you’re buying it from a dealer or a dispensary?
Since 2018, when Michigan became the 10th state — and first in the Midwest — to legalize possession of cannabis and recreational cannabis use for adults, consumers have been protected by laws requiring testing for all state-regulated cannabis products to ensure potency and safety.
That testing, though, increases the cost, which is passed along to customers. And what neither testing nor state policy can guarantee is access to the product. Amanda*, a 45-year-old single mother in a rural area who uses cannabis to treat anxiety, would love to buy from a licensed dealer, but “visiting one would require me to drive farther away, which would mean more time, money, and planning. It would turn into too much of a production.”
Welcome to cannabis deserts. If you’re in Washtenaw County, the choices are endless. The city of Detroit, mired in a debate about how to provide opportunities to city residents and people of color, has yet to license any recreational shops. “There are vast areas of the state without any dispensaries, and then there are areas that are highly concentrated with dispensaries, such as Washtenaw County,” says Michigan State University epidemiologist Kipling Bohnert, who studies substance use and abuse.
The ongoing existence of the black market for pot is also something of a fail-safe, for when the testing system goes awry. Notably, in November, the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency recalled 64,000 pounds of flower, worth some $230 million because of problematic, possibly misleading test results. More than 400 medical and recreational retailers lost much of their stock in that purge.
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