It is officially December 6th, meaning that marijuana is now officially legalized in Michigan.
While this is exciting news, it’s important to not get carried away with celebrating! Here are some things you should keep in mind if you will be participating in the recreational use of marijuana:
- Just because marijuana is legal now does not mean that your medical marijuana card is useless! Keep it and you may be able to save money in regards to sales tax.
- Your employer still has the ability to drug test you and fire you for using marijuana. It is their call on whether or not they are okay with their employees using marijuana.
- While it is illegal to smoke and drive just as it is to drink and drive, you are able to drive with marijuana in your vehicle. Just make sure that you are not driving with more than 2.5 ounces!
- The only legal way to obtain marijuana as of right now is if someone were to gift it to you or if you are growing your own plants in your house. However, since dispensaries are licensed through the state, you are able to buy from a dispensary.
- You are able to have up to 12 marijuana plants in your house.
- While you can have up to 12 plants in your house, if you have marijuana in your house amounting to more than 2.5 ounces, it has to be locked up.
- Just because marijuana is legal does not mean that you can buy as much as you want, you are only able to buy 2.5 ounces a day.
- Smoking is only permitted inside of your house. This means no sitting on your front porch and smoking. Smoking marijuana in public places is not permitted and could potentially result in a $100 fine. There are still grey areas regarding the legality of smoking in semi-private places, but to avoid any issues, it is advised to not risk it and to only smoke marijuana inside of your house.
- The legal age to smoke marijuana is 21 just as it is for drinking alcohol.
Rachel Utterback
Senior Law Clerk, Levitt Law Firm PC