Cannabis Cultivator

Greetings all! Thank you for the continued support.

Last week I wrote about the press release by the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) released a few weeks ago informing the public on the different types of marijuana establishments that we will see in our state communities and the regulations they will abide by.  It is important to make note that ALL of these establishments are considered part of the marijuana industry, and must follow the same laws, despite being different kinds of businesses.

“All marijuana establishments are subject to strict, comprehensive state regulations and inspections by Commission agents. All marijuana establishments are required to enter into host community agreements with the municipality in which they are located (there is more detail on host community agreements below). Only marijuana retailers are subject to the local marijuana tax created under the 2017 Act. One business may hold three licenses in each category, with certain exceptions.”

For this post, I would like to expand on the laws and guidelines on being a Cultivator.

A cultivator is licensed to cultivate, process, and package marijuana and transfer marijuana products to marijuana establishments.  There are different tiers of being a Cultivator, which is what decides how much land (calculated in square feet) they are allowed to grow plants on.  A cultivator is allowed to choose what tier they would like to be in, and must follow the license fees and regulation according to that tier.  The different tiers related to their square feet are:

Tier 1: up to 5,000 square feet Tier 2: 5,001 to 10,000 sq. ft.

Tier 3: 10,001 to 20,000 sq. ft. Tier 4: 20,001 to 30,000 sq. ft.

Tier 5: 30,001 to 40,000 sq. ft. Tier 6: 40,001 to 50,000 sq. ft.

Tier 7: 50,001 to 60,000 sq. ft. Tier 8: 60,001 to 70,000 sq. ft.

 Tier 9: 70,001 to 80,000 sq. ft. Tier 10: 80,001 to 90,000 sq. ft.

 Tier 11: 90,001 to 100,000 sq. ft.

Licensing will be very strict for cultivators, they have to apply through the CCC for license renewal or to expand their land to a different tier.  The CCC will review all cultivators and watch over how much of their tier they actually produce.

Despite the CCC being able to oversee the marijuana industry in the state, it is up to the state’s towns on regulating each entity such as cultivators.  The law allows towns to pass laws and ordinances governing cultivators (and every other establishment).  For example, a cultivator may be allowed to grow up to 100,000 sq. ft. after being approved by the commission as Tier 11, a municipality (town) reserves the right to pass an ordinance that could restrict a cultivator to only use up to 50,000 sq. ft.

Since the state as a whole passed a law on the legalization of marijuana growth, does a town restriction such as this example sound fair?