Virginia entrepreneur wants to start marijuana gifting business in Detroit

While legal weed may be hard to find until it becomes commercially available in early 2020, it was only a matter of time before budding entrepreneurs came up with a way around Michigan’s new recreational marijuana law.

On High Road, a Boston-based online business founded and owned by Brandon Anthony, a 33-year-old Virginia native, plans to start a marijuana “gifting” service in Detroit this month.

Anthony will sell someone 21 or older a “munchie bag” filled with cookies or a muffin, candy or a T-shirt, for anywhere between $55 to $120. Along with the purchase of the bag: a gift of marijuana, no more than the 2.5 ounces allowed under Michigan law.  

Under that law, the only way to get marijuana right now is to grow it, be a medical marijuana cardholder or have someone give it to you — not sell it. 

“There is a gifting clause within the law, so we give the cannabis to customers,” Anthony said. “Under the laws in Michigan, you can gift up to 2.5 ounces.”

Other such online businesses also have sprouted in Massachusetts and Washington D.C., operating under names such as "High Speed" and "Duuber." In both those jurisdictions, recreational marijuana is legal, but not yet widely commercially available.

Ann Scales, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which will oversee the state's marijuana industry until Dec. 23 when oversight is moved to a different department, said such sales are "typical" in states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana for use and possession, but don't yet allow for sales of pot.

But David Solet, chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, wrote a letter to prosecutors across the state that such services are a "thinly concealed scheme to obscure the illegal sale of marijuana by an unlicensed seller" and that the services remain a criminal act.

Michigan officials also echoed those comments, but were silent on what enforcement actions — if any — they might take.

There are several options for Anthony's munchie bags. The Westside Wake and Bake includes a muffin and bottle of orange juice. The Piston Vape and Baked CQ offers three chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of milk. The Red Wing Hot Box offers Fire Hot French Fries and a bottle of water. And the Detroit Lions Cotton Mouth package includes some sour candies and a lemonade. All run $55 and include “a gift with purchase.”

On the higher end, the Motown Munchie Merch sells for $120 and has an On High Road T-shirt and a “gift with purchase.” The business, which expects to hire people locally to deliver the merchandise, will either deliver directly to customers or set a designated pickup spot.

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Anthony won’t say where he gets his marijuana, other than to say it’s from Michigan. He said he also has operated in Boston and Washington D.C., in the past.

“Michigan has been on our radar since last year,” he said. “With all the legal and licensing fees, we couldn’t afford (applying for a license), so we figured out a legal loophole. And I have an attorney that tells me all the legal loopholes are covered.

Michigan's commercial sales market is not expected to be up and running until 2020, after the state has established regulations and set up a process to award licenses to recreational pot vendors. Under those regulations, the marijuana sold will have to be tested and some of the marijuana-infused products might have levels of THC — the ingredient that creates the high — lower than the one sold for medicinal use.

Prosecutors and law enforcement were hesitant to speculate on whether Anthony's venture passed the smell test.

"The activity as described appears not to fit the spirit of the law,” D.J. Hilson, Muskegon County prosecuting attorney and president of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan, said in an e-mail to the Free Press. “We, as an organization, would encourage LARA (the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) to review this type of business and promulgate rules accordingly."

LARA declined to comment on the business venture.

Lawyers who specialize in Michigan’s cannabis industry said they think Anthony may be flying too close to the legal edge.

“If you read the law, you’re not supposed to receive any remuneration for the marijuana you give away,” said Jeffrey Hank, an East Lansing attorney and leader of MiLegalize, which helped spearhead the legalization campaign. “Trying to disguise a transfer as a gift is not advised. People should be very careful before they do something like that. It’s untested waters.”

Denise Pollicella, a Brighton attorney who represents marijuana businesses, said such an entrepreneur couldn’t go into a Michigan court with a straight face to try and convince a judge that the “gifted” pot is anything more than a sale.

“If you’re selling a T-shirt that would sell anywhere else in Michigan for $10 and you’re selling it for $120, you’re not selling marijuana for no remuneration,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a wise idea. Folks can grow it in their homes and use it and share it and smoke a joint and that’s fantastic.

“I understand we just passed this and people want to open stalls at the farmer’s market, but that’s not going to happen,” she added.

The ballot proposal that passed 56-44 percent on Nov. 6 allows people to grow up to 12 plants in their homes for personal use. They’re allowed to give, but not sell, up to 2.5 ounces to anyone over the age of 21.

“He sounds like he’s commercializing it and the intent of the legislation is an exchange between family and friends,” said Birmingham attorney Charles Murphy, with the Clark Hill law firm. “I think LARA and the City of Detroit would look at this as a commercial enterprise.”

Anthony said he hasn't talked with any officials in the city and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to speculate on enforcement action.

“Licensing takes so long to happen and I have this other company in place until my licensing comes through,” he said. “I think this is the gray area that I can maneuver.”

Kathleen Gray covers the marijuana industry for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.