LANSING, Mich. — The marijuana industry is estimated to have brought in over $3 billion in Michigan in 2020 and now the state is sharing some of that revenue with municipalities across the state, including mid-Michigan.
The marijuana revenue sharing program allows municipalities that have licensed marijuana businesses to get a portion of the tax collected from the companies that sell it.
In 2021, taxes on marijuana in Michigan totaled more than $172 million, which will be divvied up and distributed to counties and cities that have marijuana retailers like Ingham County, Lansing and East Lansing.
The amount that is distributed is based on how many retailers exist in that municipality.
Ingham County is getting the lion’s share of the revenue sharing in the area with over a $1 million coming in.
That's because the county has a total of 19 marijuana retailers.
County Controller Gregg Todd says some of the money will be used for a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.
“We hired a new director recently and the funding for that position is coming out of the funds that we just received from the marijuana tax," said Todd.
The city of East Lansing has three marijuana retailers and is getting just over $169,000.
Mayor Ron Bacon says some of their money was used for social justice initiatives in the past and leaders may look to do that again.
“We took some of that money and did some stuff in our 54B courts around expungement. Some things bring some equality and social justice to people who were most impacted by drug laws and that type of thing," said Bacon.
And Lansing, which has 16 marijuana retailers, is getting over $900,000 but city officials expect that payout to grow exponentially in the coming years.
“We have 16 additional licenses that are coming online. So it was 16 as of September 30. We have another 12 provisioning centers and another four micro-businesses that would be eligible for both Lansing and Ingham County to receive that share in future years," said Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope.
Swope says City Council is expected to vote soon on some zoning changes that will allow existing marijuana businesses to expand, which will increase revenue down the line and make the city more attractive to other cannabis companies.
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