One recent day, Richard Kerrigan drove some 90 minutes from his home in Grant County, Indiana, to a marijuana dispensary in Coldwater, just over the border in Michigan.
Marijuana is illegal in Indiana, and Kerrigan said he “just wanted to see what it was.” He wasn’t alone. Eight in 10 customers that day at Exclusive Cannabis had crossed the border for flowers, edibles, pre-rolls and more.
That’s par for the course in Michigan’s border towns along Indiana and Wisconsin, where pot has reshaped downtowns and, some say, the character of communities.
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Coldwater, population less than 15,000, has 13 dispensaries. Near Wisconsin, Menominee, population roughly 8,000, has seven. Iron, Gogebic, and Menominee counties to the north and Branch and St. Joseph counties to the south each have more than three dispensaries per 10,000 people. Wayne County, by comparison, has 0.49.
That concentration of cannabis has flushing communities with cash and created a stream of business but prompted debate about community standards.
Towns that have tried to limit marijuana businesses have faced lawsuits, and many residents are getting fed up.
“You drive through Menominee right now and you get the impression all they do is sell dope,” said lifelong Menominee resident Fred Hofer Jr. “When you’re trying to attract businesses, families with kids for the school system … There’s just a lot of people that don’t want that impression.”
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