Michigan voters have resoundingly approved Proposition 1 to legalize adult-use cannabis and establish a statewide taxed-and-regulated cannabis marketplace.
Proposition 1 passed comfortably with 56 percent of the vote, making Michigan the first state in the Midwest to legalize, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Proposition 1 contains the most generous possession and cultivation limits of any other successful legalization initiative, allowing adults who are 21 or older to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and cultivate up to 12 plants in the privacy of their own home. The measure will take effect just 10 days after the election results are certified, likely sometime in December — retail sales, however, are unlikely until at least 2020 as officials must first craft and pass new regulations, allow time for applications, and issue business licenses.
Governor-elect Gretchen Wilmer, the Democrat who won last night’s gubernatorial race, said in her first official press conference as Michigan’s future governor that she would consider expunging cannabis crimes in light of Proposition 1’s passage — an issue that was not directly addressed by the initiative.
“I think that the people of Michigan have said that for conduct that would now be legal, no one should bear a lifelong record for that conduct,” Michigan Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer, via The Detroit News
Under Proposition 1, landlords will still be able to prohibit cannabis use and/or cultivation and employers can legally maintain zero-tolerance cannabis policies. Furthermore, cannabis gardens will have to be hidden from public view.
Michigan is the tenth state to legalize cannabis and the ninth state looking to establish a taxed-and-regulated cannabis marketplace.