On December 6th, the state of Michigan officially legalized the recreational use of marijuana, allowing for people in the state to be able to grow up to 12 plants for personal use and carry 2.5 oz, marking the largest legal carrying amount in the United States by far. Michigan still, however, prohibits smoking marijuana in public, while driving, and on college campuses and have still made it illegal to sell weed in the state.
That stipulation is likely to shift in the near future as the state smoothes all legislation in relation to recreational sales licenses. Sellers will have to wait until December 2019 to submit applications to sell in the state.
Gretchen Whitmer, who has just been voted into office as Governor, says that she plans to begin expunging criminal records of people convicted of marijuana-related offenses as soon as she takes office on January 1st.
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“I think that the people of Michigan have said that for conduct that would now be considered legal, no one should bear a lifelong record for that conduct,” Whitmer said at a press conference in November. “We will start taking a look at that and making some decisions and taking some action early next year.”
She is joined by a host of other Michigan politicians who will work toward the same policy with a county prosecutor having already dismissed 50 pending cases for misdemeanor marijuana offenders.
