Opt-In

Opt-in is the medical rule. Under the MMFLA, medical marihuana facilities are not permitted in a Michigan municipality unless the local governing body affirmatively adopts an ordinance authorizing them and specifying which facility types it will allow. If the municipality does nothing, no medical facility license can issue there. This is the opposite of the adult-use default under MRTMA, where a municipality that does nothing is open and must affirmatively opt out to prohibit establishments.

That asymmetry is the most consequential fact in Michigan cannabis site selection, and it is routinely stated backwards. A municipality's MMFLA opt-in decision and its MRTMA opt-out decision are legally separate: a city can authorize medical facilities and prohibit adult-use establishments, or the reverse. A site must be checked against both statutes rather than assuming one follows the other. Municipalities can also authorize some facility types while excluding others, and can cap the number of licenses issued.

We verify current local status under both statutes — authorizing ordinances, prohibition ordinances, license type coverage, caps and remaining availability — directly against municipal records before marketing or underwriting any Michigan cannabis site, rather than relying on a prior snapshot, since this is exactly the kind of fact that changes without much public notice.