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Voters said yes to marijuana: Now what?

Now that the voters have given the green light for adult marijuana use, what's next for Michigan?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Michigan is now the 10th state in the country to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. Despite the passage of Proposal One, it'll be quite a while until you start seeing legal marijuana being sold in stores.

"The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), has one year to develop the regulatory framework for licensed adult use marijuana activity," business and cannabis attorney Robert Hendricks said.

After the votes are certified, the state has a year to develop the licensing framework.

"In about 20 days or so, this ballot proposal for adult marijuana use, will become effective," Hendricks said.

After that, adults can grow up to 12 plants for personal use only.

"You can't just start selling recreational marijuana, you've got to have a license to do that. We're probably looking at early spring, mid spring, early summer of 2020 before facilities begin to operate in Michigan," Hendricks said.

Municipalities still have the right to opt out of the ordinance, banning recreational marijuana businesses.

"The decision of the municipality to opt out can be countermanded by a majority of the voters within that jurisdiction," Hendricks said. "If a majority of those people say 'no no we want it here,' even if the county commissioner or village commission says they don't want it here, if that vote passes, it's legal there."

Despite its passage, it's also possible that the legislature could make changes to the law.

"It takes a super majority of 75 percent of both houses to do so. They couldn't get a simple majority to pass an adult recreational ballot proposal a few months ago, so will they get 75 percent? It's hard to get 75 percent of the legislature to agree on anything," Hendricks said.

Governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer said she will be lenient to the thousands of people on probation or serving time in jail for marijuana related convictions.

"I think that the people of Michigan have said that for conduct that would now be considered legal, no one should bear a life long record for that conduct," Whitmer said.

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