One of the first cannabis dispensaries to open in Detroit has now unveiled what it believes could be another first. The Reef on Eight Mile Road has pivoted to include what it calls a “cannabis casino,” where customers can win prizes by playing games like blackjack, craps, roulette, slot machines, and more.
“As far as I know, nobody in the country has done it,” owner Tim Campbell tells Metro Times. “And we actually had to do a lot of research and have meetings with the [Cannabis Regulatory Agency] to make sure that it was even something they would let us do. But it passed that eyeball test.”
Campbell says the company decided to make the pivot while adult-use cannabis licenses got held up in Detroit in recent years. Though Detroit was one of the first municipalities in Michigan to allow medical cannabis dispensaries following the passing of Proposal 1 in 2008, it was one of the last to allow recreational dispensaries, which Michigan voters approved in 2018.
That’s because a city ordinance was designed to help give a leg up in the new legal industry to Black Detroiters, who were disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs. But the Detroit social equity plan for cannabis backfired, held up for years by lawsuits.
“I’ve said this a lot of times, Detroit really built the bus for recreational — and then it missed the bus,” Campbell says. “There’s so many other cities that opened up for years before they could do it.”
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