A legal loophole in Michigan that allows for individuals to give away marijuana free of charge has led to a new business model by some companies under which they sell products such as non-infused candy or art and add a free bit of cannabis as a “gift.”
According to Michigan Daily, some entrepreneurs got the idea from Washington DC, where recreational cannabis is legal but sales are still prohibited and where gifting has arisen as a way to sidestep the sales ban.
Michigan state law allows for cannabis giveaways of up to 2.5 ounces at a time to anyone 21 or older, as long as the service isn’t advertised. And some companies have taken advantage of the new gray area of law.
For instance, Ann Arbor-based Smoke’s Chocolate employs medical marijuana patients as delivery drivers and gives them “the option to present a free gift (to customers), and most of them choose to gift cannabis,” an attorney for the company told Michigan Daily.
“We hire independent contractors who source their own cannabis, and they sell their own stuff. We don’t buy it; we don’t touch it. The only thing we buy or sell is chocolate,” the attorney told the newspaper.
The future of the gifting practice is uncertain under state law, and it might also be temporary, as full recreational sales are on the horizon.
But for now gifting appears to be a stopgap practice being utilized by both Michigan companies and consumers.
