Double-edged sword
Amber Littlejohn, executive director of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, said “microbusinesses can be a great thing.”
“However, when there are arbitrary limits on growth and structure, they are not,” she told MJBizDaily.
Take New Jersey, for example. Microbusinesses there will be capped at 10 employees and a maximum cultivation area of 2,500 square feet.
“The New Jersey model, with the low canopy limits and limits on employees, as well as limits on the number of micro licenses one can hold, is unsustainable and will never allow operators to benefit from scale,” Littlejohn said via email.
Michigan is an example of a state that is proposing changes to its microbusiness structure in efforts to make it more viable, only two years after initial regulations took effect.
The proposed changes include doubling the maximum plant count from 150 to 300 and allowing microbusinesses to purchase mature plants, edibles, concentrates, vaping cartridges and other products from licensed operators rather than having to do everything in-house.