Michigan’s cannabis industry, already reeling from oversupply and plummeting prices, is facing a new threat: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed 32% wholesale tax on recreational marijuana. The tax, part of her ambitious budget plan to fund road repairs, has ignited a firestorm of backlash from operators who say the move could decimate an already fragile market.
Whitmer’s proposal aims to generate an additional $470 million for infrastructure, but industry leaders argue the timing couldn’t be worse. Cannabis sales in Michigan dipped for the first time in years last month, while production capacity remains alarmingly high. This oversupply has driven prices to unsustainable lows, forcing many businesses to shutter. For those still standing, the proposed tax feels like a death knell.
“This is a betrayal,” Matt Imig, owner of Lansing-based M&M Agriculture, said, echoing a sentiment shared across the industry. Whitmer, once hailed as a staunch ally of cannabis reform, now faces accusations of abandoning the very community that helped propel her political career. Social media groups and email chains are flooded with angry posts from operators and activists — many of them Democrats — who feel blindsided by the move…