Michigan proposes cutting fees for medical marijuana patients and growers

Medical marijuana cardholders and the caregivers who provide them with pot will get a break on the cost of getting registered under new rules proposed by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

The rules, which won’t go into effect until later this year, would lower the cost of a two-year medical marijuana card from $60 to $40 for patients and eliminate several other fees, including a $10 fee to replace or change the address of a medical marijuana cardholder and a $25 fee for a criminal background check for medical marijuana caregivers.

The cost reduction comes 10 years after voters legalized medical weed in 2008. When the medical marijuana program first started, the cost for a patient was $100 a year, but that was reduced to $60 every two years in 2014.

The state will have to go through several public hearings in the coming months before the new rules are put in place.

In explaining the reason for the new rules, department officials said the cost of operating the medical marijuana program is now far less than the amount the state is collecting in fees. [Read more at Detroit Free Press]