MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 STATE OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF LICENSING AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING Jupiter Conference Room 2407 North Grand River Avenue Lansing, Michigan Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 9:30 a.m. PRESENT: MR. ANDREW BRISBO MS. JESSICA FOX MR. JOSHUA GALICKI MS. KELLY KRONNER RECORDED BY: Marcy A. Klingshirn, CER 6924 Certified Electronic Recorder Network Reporting Corporation Firm Registration Number 8151 1-800-632-2720 Page 1 MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 2 3 Welcome and Call to Order . 3 Statement by Mr. Brisbo . 3 4 Statement by Ms. Fox. 4 Statement by Ms. Kronner. 5 5 Statement by Mr. Aaron Squeo. 6 Statement by Mr. Steve Linder . 7 6 Statement by Mr. Geoffrey Lawrence. 10 Statement by Mr. Jason Palomba. 12 7 Statement by Mr. Jerry Young. 13 Statement by Ms. Katherine Kreger . 13 8 Statement by Ms. Ashley Hubbard . 14 Statement by Ms. Robin Schneider. 15 9 Statement by Mr. Tim Beck . 18 Statement by Mr. Cody Dekker. 19 10 Statement by Mr. Rick Thompson. 22 Statement by Mr. Derryl Reed. 25 11 Statement by Mr. Devin Loker. 28 Statement by Mr. Jeff Ferro . 29 12 Statement by Mr. Brandon Campbell . 31 Statement by Mr. Derek Dobies . 32 13 Statement by Ms. Miranda Burnham. 36 Statement by Ms. Roma Thurin. 38 14 Statement by Ms. Kelly Young. 40 Statement by Ms. Allison Ireton . 42 15 Statement by Ms. Christina Montague . 45 Statement by Ms. Maryrose Angelo. 46 16 Statement by Mr. Jeffrey Hank . 47 Statement by Ms. Aubrey Rose. 49 17 Statement by Ms. Josey Scoggin. 50 Statement by Mr. Nico Pento . 52 18 Statement by Mr. Marco Smith. 53 Statement by Mr. Brandon Massay . 54 19 Statement by Mr. Eric Foster. 56 Statement by Mr. Travis Klinger . 59 20 Statement by Mr. Matt Craven. 61 Statement by Mr. Nate Noel. 62 21 Statement by Ms. Kari Massay. 63 Statement by Ms. Andrea Hartdegen . 65 22 Statement by Mr. Matthew Abel . 66 Statement by Ms. Rebecca Colett . 69 23 Statement by Mr. Paul Samways . 72 Statement by Mr. Tom Farrell. 74 24 Statement by Mr. Matt Ramirez . 75 25 Adjournment . 77 Page 2 MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 1 Lansing, Michigan 2 Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 9:30 a.m. 3 MS. KRONNER: I'm going to call this meeting to 4 order at 9:30 a.m. 5 MR. BRISBO: Good morning, everyone. I'm Andrew 6 Brisbo, the executive director of the Marijuana Regulatory 7 Agency. I appreciate you all being here. Appreciate you 8 all accommodating the unexpected disruption to what was a -- 9 what we thought was a well planned meeting and having to 10 move locations. This meeting is being live streamed via the 11 MRA Facebook page. Because of the constraints on the room 12 and the number of people who are allowed to be in here, I 13 would appreciate if after you've made your comments if you 14 exit the building so we can get someone else to come in and 15 make their comments. This will all be transcribed so we 16 will not miss any comments and anything that's said at 17 the -- during the course of the meeting will be available 18 publicly after the fact as well, so you won't miss anything. 19 But we do want to make sure everyone's given an opportunity. 20 If there's anything you happen to miss, we will take written 21 comments for I think a week, until the 17th, so you're free 22 to submit additional comments in writing to the MRA after 23 that. 24 To my right I have Kelly Kronner and Jessica Fox. 25 They're going to be helping to coordinate the meeting. If Page 3 MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 1 you haven't filled out a comment card, please do that just 2 so we can call your name to make sure that we keep things 3 moving orderly. I think Jessica is going to announce the 4 names. She'll announce the next speaker as well as the 5 person that's in the queue after that just so we can keep 6 moving through. And, again, we would appreciate it if after 7 you've made your comments you could exit so we can get 8 someone else in. That would be greatly appreciated. And 9 I'm going to turn it over to Jessica. Thank you. 10 MS. FOX: Good morning. This is a public hearing 11 on the proposed administrative rules titled as follows: 12 Marihuana Licenses - Rule Set 2019-067 LR; Marihuana 13 Licensees - Rule Set 2019-068 LR; Marihuana Operations - 14 Rule Set 2019-069 LR; Marihuana Sampling and Testing - Rule 15 Set 2019-070 LR; Marihuana Infused and Edible Marihuana 16 Products - Rule set 2019-071 LR; Marihuana Sale or 17 Transfer - Rule Set 2019-072 LR; Marihuana Employees - Rule 18 Set 2019-073 LR; Marihuana Hearings - Rule Set 2019-074 LR; 19 Marihuana Disciplinary Proceedings - Rule Set 2019-075 LR; 20 Industrial Hemp for Marihuana Businesses - Rule Set 2019-088 21 LR; and Medical Marihuana Facilities - Rescinded - Rule Set 22 2019-123 LR. 23 This hearing is being conducted pursuant to 24 provisions required by the authority conferred on the 25 Executive Director of the Agency authorized to promulgate Page 4 MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 1 these rules based upon Section 206 of the Medical Marihuana 2 Facilities Licensing Act, 2016 PA 281, MCL 333.27206, 3 Section 7 and Section 8 of the Michigan Regulation and 4 Taxation of Marihuana Act, 2018 Initiated Law 1, MCL 5 333.27957 and 333.27958, along with Executive Reorganization 6 Order 2019-2, MCL 333.27001. 7 MS. KRONNER: This hearing was called to order at 8 9:30 a.m., on February 12th, 2020. It was supposed to take 9 place at the Williams Building, first floor auditorium, but 10 we are at 2407 North Grand River in Lansing, Michigan. This 11 hearing was published in three newspapers of general 12 circulation, as well as the Michigan Register, published on 13 February 1, 2020. 14 Please know that we are here today to receive your 15 comments on the proposed rules. If you wish to speak, 16 please fill out a comment card with your name and the rule 17 number or citation that you are commenting on. When you 18 come forward to speak, please state your name and the rule 19 number or citation that you are commenting on so that this 20 information may be transcribed in the hearing report. 21 Particularity will help the staff review your comments in 22 the transcript after today. 23 Please try to limit your comments to three 24 minutes. If you need more time, please consider submitting 25 your comment to the e-mail address provided on the Notice. Page 5 MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 1 Written comments may be submitted until Monday, February 2 17th, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Please remember that public 3 comment is an opportunity for members of the public to 4 comment, not to obtain feedback, engage in dialogue, or 5 receive answers from the Agency. 6 Again, please give the rule number and state your 7 comments with particularity. Thank you. 8 MS. FOX: So at this time, we will begin with 9 public comment. If you could please when you come to the 10 microphone, say your name and spell your last name for our 11 transcriptionist, that will help her out greatly. First 12 will be Aaron Squeo, and Aaron will be followed by Steve 13 Linder from Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association. 14 AARON SQUEO 15 MR. AARON SQUEO: Hi. My name is Aaron Squeo. 16 I'm speaking on Rule Set 2019-073 LR. Good morning. My 17 name is Aaron Squeo and I currently reside in Clinton 18 Township, Michigan. I have come here today to voice my 19 support for a fair and stable recreational cannabis industry 20 in Michigan. That's why I support a labor peace agreement 21 in the regulations. Labor peace agreements make sure that 22 workers have a safe environment to work in and workers who 23 belong to a union are more likely to receive safety and 24 technical -- 25 (Off the record interruption) Page 6 MARIJUANA REGULATORY AGENCY PUBLIC HEARING February 12, 2020 1 MR. AARON SQUEO: Do you want me to start over 2 again? 3 MS. KRONNER: Sure. 4 MR. AARON SQUEO: Okay. Good morning. My name is 5 Aaron Squeo and I currently reside in Clinton Township, 6 Michigan. I have come here today to voice my opinion for a 7 fair and stable recreational cannabis industry in Michigan. 8 This is why I support a labor peace agreement in the 9 regulations. Labor peace agreements will make sure that 10 workers are safe and the products don't hurt people. 11 Workers who belong to a union are more likely to be -- 12 receive safety and technical training and it reduces 13 workplace accidents and improves worker -- product quality. 14 My father currently receives benefits from medical marijuana 15 and I have to be careful about some of the brownies I eat 16 when I go to his house. I just want to make sure that the 17 product he's eating and is consuming are safe as well.