Closing a Licensed Marijuana Business

Licensees may transfer marijuana product to their equivalent licenses-without CRA approval.

For product to be eligible for transfer, the below items must be met:

• The sending business and receiving business are equivalent licenses as defined in the administrative rules.

“Equivalent licenses” means any of the following held by a person:
(i) A marihuana grower license of any class issued under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act and a grower license, of any class, issued under the medical marihuana facilities licensing act.
(ii) A marihuana processor license issued under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act and a processor license issued under the medical marihuana facilities licensing act.
(iii) A marihuana retailer license issued under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act and a provisioning center license issued under  the medical marihuana facilities licensing act.
(iv) A marihuana secure transporter license issued under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act and a secure transporter license issued under the medical marihuana facilities licensing act.
(v) A marihuana safety compliance facility license issued under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act and a safety compliance facility license issued under the medical marihuana facilities licensing act.

• Infused products must be properly labeled, not expired and cannot exceed the maximum THC limits.
• All tested products must be test/retest passed in Metrc.
• Untested flower material can be transferred within the same market without approval or to an equivalent license.
• Harvest batches must be packaged and marked finished in Metrc.
• Unsourced product from caregivers is ineligible for transfer and must be destroyed.
• Product cannot be on administrative hold, please email CRA-Compliance@michigan.gov for assistance with any product which is on administrative hold.

Outstanding Metrc functions are completed for the expiring license, prior to the expiration date:

• All harvest batches finished.
• No pending incoming or outgoing transfer manifests.
• All packages at a quantity of 0 and discontinued or finished.
• Any reports are downloaded as access to Metrc will be terminated once the license is closed.

• All harvest batches finished.
• No pending incoming or outgoing transfer manifests.
• All packages at a quantity of 0 and discontinued or finished.
• Any reports are downloaded as access to Metrc will be terminated once the license is closed. 

Request to Close License Form

Both licenses old license (selling) and new license (purchasing) cannot be in operation at the same time. When the purchase agreement is signed the old license is void, it only remains active in Metrc to facilitate the transfer of inventory. For large purchase agreements with multiple licenses: all items must be completed for each license prior to the new licenses starting their operations.

For a purchase agreement which does not include the assets the following items need to be completed once the agreement is approved by licensing. 

• All harvest batches finished.
• No pending incoming or outgoing transfer manifests
• All packages at a quantity of 0 and discontinued or finished.
• Any reports are downloaded as access to Metrc will be terminated once the license is closed.

It is recommended that the selling license do a thorough inventory audit and make adjustments to account for discrepancies between the physical and Metrc inventory prior to transferring inventory to the purchasing license. Any non-compliance with required Metrc inventory tracking will become the responsibility of the purchasing license. 

For a purchase agreement which does include the assets, the new license will immediately need to gain access to Metrc and order tags for the business by following the instructions found in the beginning inventory documents here.  Once the new license is active, please email the CRA at CRA-Compliance@michigan.gov attention license closure analyst and let us know you are ready to move the inventory from the selling license to the purchasing license. Please include the license numbers in the email. 

The CRA will provide permission to Metrc support to assist with the re-licensure which moves all the remaining inventory from the selling license to the new license. 

When a licensee is approved for a license type which is not an exact match to the license they currently hold and want to close the old license for example AU-MB-000000 to AU-MB-A-000000, the old license is void when the new license is approved. It only remains active in Metrc to facilitate the transfer of inventory. 

Please note: if the change does not include all required license types for the product an example would be if a microbusiness is upgrading to a marihuana grower class A and a retailer but they are not applying for a producer, if there are products which are unable to be at a grower or retailer for example bulk concentrate, these will need to be destroyed or finished, before the license can be closed. 

The new license will immediately need to gain access to Metrc and order tags for the business by following the instructions found in the beginning inventory documents here.  Once the new license is active, please email the CRA at CRA-Compliance@michigan.gov attention license closure analyst and let us know you are ready to move the inventory from the old license to the new license. Please include the license numbers in the email. 

The CRA will provide permission to Metrc support to assist with the re-licensure which moves all the remaining inventory from the old license to the new license.