Marijuana: a growing business in Michigan

medical-marijuanaObservers have said that entrepreneurs in Michigan turning to the burgeoning medical marijuana business are finding a steady, modest income.

The Detroit Free Press reported on Monday that nineteen months after Michigan voters legalized marijuana for medicinal use, a growing cottage industry of growing, selling, consulting, educating growers, and some work for lawyers has blossomed in the state.

Adam Brook, who organizes the Hash Bash, an annual event in Ann Arbor, Mich., that began in 1972 when the state was temporarily void of anti-marijuana laws, said, "A few people will make a few bucks. Most people won't make much."

It has been reported that medicinal marijuana growers in Michigan are now called caregivers and are allowed to grow enough for five patients, each of which is allowed to lay claim to 12 plants.

That limits a growers’ income to roughly $40,000 a year although more can be made by those who break the rules.

According to Brook, growers can make $100,000 a year by selling to more than their allotted five customers.

Leili Russo, the secretary of the Genesse County Compassion Club, the state's largest membership group of medicinal marijuana users with 1,000 members, said, "If you operate within the law, you're not going to make a lot of money." (With Inputs from Agencies)