Michigan Cannabis Licensing: What the State’s Own Rules Require of a Licensee

As of August 20, 2026, Michigan’s administrative rules require a marihuana licensee to maintain a documented security and surveillance program, control sales and transfers through verification and statewide monitoring, secure and track stored product, maintain written operating procedures, and follow specific conditions for transfers between equivalent licenses.

By Cannible Editorial

2026-08-06

This article is general information, not individualized legal, medical, business, or compliance advice. Whether any of it applies to a particular person, product or business depends on the facts and on applicable state law; consult a qualified professional.

Security plans and access controls

Michigan requires an applicant for a marihuana license to operate a proposed marihuana business to submit a security plan demonstrating, at a minimum, the ability to meet the requirements of Michigan’s security rule. Michigan requires a licensee to escort any person who is not an employee of the licensee at all times while that person is in limited access or restricted access areas. 1

Michigan requires a licensee to securely lock the marihuana business, including interior rooms required by the agency, windows, and points of entry and exit, using commercial-grade, nonresidential door locks or other electronic or keypad access. Michigan requires locks on doors needed for egress to meet NFPA 1, local fire codes, and the Michigan building code. Michigan also requires a licensee to maintain an alarm system and, upon request, make information about the alarm system, monitoring, and alarm activity available to the agency. 1

Michigan’s video surveillance requirements

Michigan requires a licensee to have a video surveillance system consisting, at a minimum, of digital or network video recorders, cameras capable of meeting the recording requirements, video monitors, digital archiving devices, and a color printer capable of delivering still photographs. Michigan requires the system to record areas where marihuana products are weighed, packed, stored, loaded, unloaded for transportation, prepared, or moved; limited access areas and security rooms; and areas storing a surveillance storage device, with at least one camera recording access points to the secured surveillance recording area. 1

Michigan requires the system to record building entrances and exits from indoor and outdoor vantage points; entrance and exit areas between marihuana businesses at the same location, including applicable transfers; point-of-sale areas where marihuana products are sold or displayed; and areas where marihuana or marihuana products are destroyed. Michigan requires transfers between rooms to be recorded. 1

Michigan requires images to be recorded at a minimum of 720p resolution. Michigan requires each camera to be permanently mounted in a fixed location and positioned to clearly record activity within 20 feet of all points of entry and exit, as well as clearly and certainly identify persons, including facial features, and activities, including sales or transfers, in all areas required to be recorded. 1

Michigan requires sufficient lighting for the video surveillance requirements. Michigan requires cameras to record when motion is detected and to record images that clearly and accurately display the time and date. Michigan requires the physical media or storage device holding surveillance recordings to be secured against tampering or theft. 1

Michigan requires a licensee to keep surveillance recordings for at least 30 calendar days. Michigan requires a licensee to retain recordings during an agency investigation or inspection until the agency notifies the licensee that they may be destroyed. Michigan makes surveillance recordings subject to agency inspection and requires them to be kept so the agency can view and obtain copies at the marihuana business immediately upon request; Michigan also requires copies to be provided to the agency within the time specified by the agency. 1

Michigan requires the video surveillance system to have a failure-notification system that notifies the licensee of an interruption or failure of the system or its storage device. Michigan requires a licensee to maintain a recording log identifying the employees responsible for monitoring the system, the employee who removed any recording and the date and time of removal, and the employee who destroyed any recording. 1

Michigan’s security-rule requirements do not apply to designated consumption establishment applicants or licensees, marihuana event organizer applicants or licensees, or temporary marihuana event applicants or licensees. 1

Sales, transfers, and purchasing limits

Michigan requires a marihuana sales location to verify before selling or transferring marihuana or a marihuana product that the product has not been placed on administrative hold, recalled, or ordered or otherwise required to be destroyed; is not past its expiration date; has been tested under Michigan’s testing rule; and is labeled and packaged for sale or transfer under Michigan’s labeling and packaging rule. Michigan also requires the sales location to verify the customer’s qualifying identification and, where applicable, a valid, current, unexpired, and unrevoked registry identification card. 2

Michigan requires a marihuana sales location to verify that a completed sale or transfer will not exceed the purchasing limit prescribed by Michigan’s rules. Michigan requires the sales location to enter transactions, current inventory, and other required information in the statewide monitoring system, maintain appropriate records of sales and transfers, and make those records available to the agency upon request. 2

Michigan requires a provisioning center licensed under the MMFLA to verify a visiting qualifying patient’s valid, unexpired medical marihuana registry card, or an equivalent card issued in another United States state, district, territory, commonwealth, or insular possession that allows medical use of marihuana. Michigan also requires the patient to present valid photographic government identification, and requires the provisioning center to verify the applicable purchasing limit, testing, and labeling and packaging requirements. 2

Michigan requires an MMFLA licensee, before selling or transferring to a registered qualifying patient, to verify in the statewide monitoring system that the transaction does not exceed 2.5 ounces of marihuana or marihuana equivalent per day. Michigan requires the same daily limit for a registered primary caregiver for each registered qualifying patient connected through the agency’s registration process. Michigan also sets a monthly limit of 10 ounces of marihuana product to a qualifying patient, whether directly or through the qualifying patient’s registered primary caregiver. 2

Michigan prohibits a marihuana retailer operating under the MRTMA from selling or transferring more than 2.5 ounces to an adult 21 years of age or older in a single transaction. Michigan limits the marihuana concentrate within that transaction to no more than 15 grams. Michigan limits a marihuana sales location to selling no more than three immature plants to a marihuana customer per transaction. 2

Michigan does not require an MRTMA marihuana retailer, marihuana microbusiness, or class A marihuana microbusiness to retain customer information other than payment method, amount of payment, time of sale, product quantity, and other product descriptors. 2

Operating the marihuana business

Michigan requires a marihuana business to have up-to-date written standard operating procedures on site at all times and to make them available to the agency upon request. Michigan requires those procedures to detail the business’s operations and activities necessary to comply with the acts and Michigan’s rules. 3

Michigan may require a licensee to correct a practice immediately and update standard operating procedures within one business day if the agency determines that a procedure contains inaccurate information or does not comply with Michigan’s rules and applicable safe food management guidelines. Michigan requires a marihuana business to comply with random compliance checks requested by the agency, including secure collection of product samples for compliance testing by the agency or its authorized agents. 3

Michigan permits the agency to update or issue new standards as necessary to protect consumer and public health, safety, and welfare. Michigan requires a marihuana business to comply with new or updated standards within six months of adoption unless there is an identifiable public health or safety risk. 3

Michigan requires a marihuana sales location to maintain a separate room dedicated to the point-of-sale area for the transfer or sale of marihuana product. Michigan requires marihuana products to remain behind a counter or other barrier that prevents customer direct access, while permitting a designated area for contactless or limited-contact transactions. 3

Michigan requires a marihuana business to label all marihuana products with ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight and to clearly list all non-marihuana inactive ingredients. Michigan requires a business producing marihuana products to maintain formulation records and make them available to the agency upon request. Michigan requires added cannabinoid-containing ingredients to come from a governmental-authority-licensed source and to be entered into the statewide monitoring system. 3

Michigan requires each form of marihuana or marihuana product combined into another marihuana product to have passing safety-compliance test results in the statewide monitoring system before the new combined product is created. Michigan requires a business transferring product to or receiving product from a marihuana transporter to initiate transfer or receipt procedures within 30 minutes of the transporter’s arrival. 3

Michigan requires a cultivator to operate within a building that meets security requirements, passes required inspections, and has the required building permit. Michigan allows cultivation in an outdoor area only when the area is contiguous with the building, fully enclosed by secured fences or barriers that prevent visibility from a public place without optical aids, and accessible only through locked entries for authorized persons or emergency personnel; Michigan requires drying, trimming, curing, and packaging after harvest to occur inside the qualifying building. 3

Michigan requires a marihuana transporter to hold a separate license for every transporter location, prohibits the transporter from selling or purchasing marihuana product, and requires product in transit to be in a locked, secured, and sealed container that is not accessible during transit. Michigan requires a transporter to keep product from separate marihuana businesses in separate compartments or containers, maintain route plans and manifests, possess no product that is not on a manifest, follow the manifest, and remain onsite until the receiving business weighs and accepts or rejects the product. 3

Storage and transfers between equivalent licenses

Michigan requires all marihuana products to be stored at a marihuana business in a secured limited access area or restricted access area and identified and tracked consistently in the statewide monitoring system. Michigan requires containers used to store product for transfer or sale between marihuana businesses to be clearly marked, labeled, or tagged when applicable, enclosed on all sides in secured containers, latched or locked to keep contents secured, and identified and tracked under Michigan’s rules. 4

Michigan requires chemicals and solvents to be stored separately from marihuana products in closed containers in locked storage areas. Michigan requires marihuana-infused products, edible marihuana products, and materials used in direct contact with them to have separate storage areas from toxic or flammable materials. Michigan requires products not in final packaging to be stored separately from other types of marihuana product, and requires a marihuana sales location to store products for transfer or sale behind a counter or other barrier separated from stock rooms. 4

Michigan requires a licensee to ensure that every stock or storage room meets Michigan’s security requirements and other applicable requirements in the acts and Michigan’s rules. 4

Michigan may authorize licensees with equivalent MRTMA licenses and common ownership to transfer marihuana product between the inventory of their marihuana facility and the inventory of their marihuana establishment. Michigan identifies class A, class B, and class C marihuana growers, marihuana processors, and marihuana retailers as licensees that may accept medical marihuana product under that transfer provision when they hold the equivalent licenses with common ownership. 4

Michigan requires a licensee making a transfer between equivalent licenses with common ownership to follow the rules and any agency-published requirements. Michigan requires the licensee to track the transfer in the statewide monitoring system, and plants transferred under the rule count toward the authorized total amount of marihuana plants for a licensed cultivator. Michigan provides that transferred product may be sold or transferred only in accordance with the acts and Michigan’s rules, and requires the receiving licensee to track product that is sold or transferred. 4