In this episode, cannabis attorney Lance Boldrey joins the show. He chats with WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben about how the 2026 state budget affects the cannabis industry.
Plus, Republican gubernatorial candidates had their first debate this week. We discuss a notable absence and the major themes of the debate.
How does the wholesale tax on the marijuana industry affect businesses of different sizes?
Reviewing the first Republican debate for Michigan’s 2026 gubernatorial race
Which gubernatorial candidates have raised the most money so far?
Cannabis in the state budget
The 2026 state budget included a 24% tax increase on the marijuana market. The tax will be applied to the retailer’s sales regardless of other taxes already listed in the line of items of any marijuana invoice.
Boldrey, who focuses on cannabis cases at the law firm Dykema, says small businesses will be hit the hardest.
“I think the folks that get the most negatively impacted are the micro businesses, which are the social equity part of the industry, which are people that come in as craft producers. They don’t have any wholesale activity at all because everything is grown, processed and sold in the exact same location.”
Boldrey says these micro businesses can’t make a wholesale purchase or a wholesale sale, but they will have a wholesale tax on their production.
Reviewing the gubernatorial debate
At the Republican gubernatorial debate this week, there was a notable absence from U.S. Representative John James, who said he would not participate in these debates until the field was more settled. As of now, James is perceived as the frontrunner, but there may be risk with his approach.
He’s already upset some GOP delegates mad by skipping a different event organized by the state party. If he does win the primary, he may have to win those delegates back heading into the general election.
Also, campaign finance reports were due this week from all parties. Republican John James, Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Independent Mike Duggan have raised the most from donors in their campaigns so far.
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Supporters call it smart budgeting, “pot for potholes.” But others see a troubling shift: a young industry, still finding its footing, being asked to carry the weight of Michigan’s infrastructure.
The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association is taking the debate to court. It has filed a complaint arguing the new wholesale tax unlawfully alters a voter-initiated cannabis law under the state constitution.
This new tax could test that promise if higher costs push small, Black- and brown-owned businesses out of the market.
So today, The Metro explores these tensions and concerns through the perspective of people in the cannabis industry.
First, we hear from Jamie Lowell, a longtime cannabis advocate. He’ll help us step back and learn: how does Michigan’s market compare with other states?
Then we turn to Al Williams, owner of DaCut dispensaries, and president of the Detroit Cannabis Industry Association.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Employees at the Exclusive Brands Marijuana & Cannabis Dispensary have been striking for over a month. They say they’re expected to work more without any additional pay and that when they express their concerns, their hours are cut. Employees are attempting to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which already represents cannabis workers in Michigan, but they say Exclusive refuses to recognize their union.
Emily Hull, a striking budtender at Exclusive Brands in Ann Arbor, and Megan Carvalho, the national campaign coordinator for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union’s cannabis program, joined the show to discuss the working conditions at the dispensary and the state of the strike.
The Metro contacted the head of Exclusive Brands’ Ann Arbor facility. We have not heard back.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
The gray building on University Drive in Pontiac looks like other light industrial spaces. But the building’s current status is complicated by a murder, a cannabis operation and multiple ordinance violations.
Ongoing litigation has frozen the city’s ability to enforce building standards at the site, where businessman Sam Simko was killed on Jan. 12. Three men are scheduled for an April 13, 2026, trial for the Commerce Township man’s slaying.
City officials have long been familiar with the building. In 2021, then-Mayor Dierdre Waterman’s administration granted a business license to four addresses — 1012, 1014, 1016 and 1018 University Drive — to operate as a caregiver’s medical marijuana growing operation, according to city records. Justin Corlin was listed as the business owner. He could not be reached for this story.
Such operations are allowed under the 2008 Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which states that people who are primary caregivers may grow 12 plants per patient, with a limit of six patients; they cannot grow more than 72 plants. Waterman’s administration never completed plans for a cannabis licensing process for medical or recreational marijuana. Caregiving businesses are considered a separate category.
After Simko’s death, Oakland County sheriff’s deputies recovered an estimated 50 pounds of marijuana, or 800 ounces, found with the three murder suspects. Police did not disclose how many plants were being cultivated in the building but referred to it as a large operation. The value of the recovered 800 ounces of marijuana is unclear, as area retailers’ online prices range from about $60 per ounce to more than $400.
City inspection records for Suite 1012, one of four suites at a single University Drive building in Pontiac. (Screenshot of public records)
The University Drive industrial warehouse was built in 1987 and is just over 10,000 square feet with 16-foot-high ceilings and four vehicle entrances as well as traditional doors.
While Waterman’s administration listed the four addresses, considered suites, as part of a medical-caregiver grow operation in 2021, city spokeswoman Paula Bridges said only Suites 1012 and 1014, are currently considered a “previously approved non-conforming caregiver operation” owned by Simko.
Suites 1012 and 1014 were leased by Simko from the property’s owner, Precision Investment Group. Precision’s business registration belongs to Bloomfield Hills businessman David Supal. Suites 1016 and 1018 are considered occupied by Precision.
Supal told The Oakland Press his lawyer advised him not to discuss the building or any related litigation.
City officials responding to a 2019 complaint about Simko’s operation learned he had no business license for that site. The code inspector also found that the property had been divided into suites and new addresses added without city approval. The city’s code enforcement action required an architectural drawing to show the separate suites and permits for the construction work.
Bridges said Suites 1016 and 1018 never received permits for operating as a primary caregiver marijuana facility, and “to the best of the city’s knowledge, is not engaging in any marijuana grow operations.”
City inspection records for Suite 1012, one of four suites at a single University Drive building in Pontiac. (Screenshot of public records)
On Aug. 27, 2024, nearly five months before Simko’s death, Pontiac building official Bruce Eck visited Suite 1016 to investigate a complaint. In his notes, which are public record, he wrote “marijuana facility is illegally open. They will need to cease and desist immediately.”
Eck’s inspection notes state that the operation did not meet zoning requirements and that police might get involved if the operation wasn’t shut down in the next seven days and the property owner could be ticketed.
The record shows he last visited Suite 1016 on Jan. 6 and approved the work. But the text on that same page dated Jan. 14 notes that the inspection was improperly marked and that the building’s owner still needed the city’s zoning board’s approval to operate as a medical marijuana facility. The text states Suite 1016 needed a fire-safety inspection and permits for evident construction work, as none had been pulled. The text ends with a message highlighted by two asterisks: “Please note that previous use in this building [was] never approved for medical marijuana facility.”
Bridges said Eck inspected Suite 1016 on Sept. 4, 2024, and scheduled a progress check for March 17. His notes show he planned to verify that proper permits had been obtained and the suite met standards for a certificate of occupancy. But he was fired on March 10 after three abandoned children were found in a filthy townhouse on the city’s west side. Eck is suing the city for wrongful discharge.
Because of the litigation between Precision and the city, Bridges said, “the building division has not taken any action” to re-inspect Suites 1016 and 1018 and Precision has not requested any new permits.
City inspection records for Suite 1014, one of four suites at a single University Drive building in Pontiac. (Screenshot of public records)
On Jan. 14, two days after Simko’s body was found in the University Drive building, Eck visited Suite 1018 and prohibited occupancy. He scheduled a progress check for March 18, according to city records. Litigation has also precluded code inspectors from following up and Supal’s company has not applied for any new permits, Bridges said.
Precision still “has no city approvals to operate any business (at Suites 1016-1018),” Bridges said, adding that, to city officials’ knowledge, no cannabis being grown at those suites.
Eck visited Suite 1012 on July 10, 2024, and tagged the door with a notice that the business did not have a certificate of occupancy, which is granted only after permitted work is completed and passed city inspections. He and the fire marshal returned on Sept. 4, 2024, for a final inspection. “All OK,” Eck’s inspection note said.
On the same date, Eck issued a certificate of occupancy to Suite 1014.
Suites 1012 and 1014 are each listed on the city’s building records as “a legal non-conforming medical marijuana caregiver facility.”
City inspection records for Suite 1016, one of four suites at a single University Drive building in Pontiac. (Screenshot of public records)City inspection records for Suite 1016, one of four suites at a single University Drive building in Pontiac. (Screenshot of public records)City inspection records for Suite 1018, one of four suites at a single University Drive building in Pontiac. (Screenshot of public records)
The Pontiac building where Sam Simko was found fatally shot on Jan. 13 (Peg McNichol/MediaNews Group)
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