Enter the consumption lounge.
The state has allowed consumption lounge licenses, alongside retail, cultivation, transporting and other kinds of marijuana businesses, since recreational use sales officially began in late 2019.
“We’ve heard from quite a few people who have interest in that, but obviously with the pandemic, that kind of derailed their plans,” said Andrew Brisbo, director of the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency.
It submitted application materials in January and is waiting on some changes before it could potentially receive a consumption establishment license and start operating.
Hot Box Social, at 23610 John R, north of Nine Mile Road, is owned by Trucenta, a vertically integrated cannabis company based in Troy.
How they get around this, generally, is by either having patrons buy product at a nearby retail establishment and bring it in themselves, or by getting their edibles or flower delivered to the consumption site.
If what’s essentially a pot bar can’t make money selling the product, how does it make it a profitable enterprise? In short, it’s tough, which is another reason these businesses aren’t cropping up faster.
Aldrich declined to say how much Trucenta has invested in the 2,000-square-foot storefront in Hazel Park with a 250-person capacity.
Aldrich also declined to estimate when Hot Box Social may be open as a consumption space.
There could also be educational events for non-regular users who want to learn about how to pick out flower and grind it; yoga classes with consumption; a smoke-and-paint event like a wine-and-paint event; burlesque shows and potentially food available on site either at a food truck or in the building itself, Aldrich said.
The lounge would open in half of an old opera house downtown, co-owner Russ Chambers said.
The retail side would deliver to the lounge, or patrons could stop by and buy their cannabis before they go relax in Kalkushka.
As planned, the Kalkaska consumption establishment, a more than $1 million endeavor that’s still under construction, would also have a coffee bar and sell packaged food.
The Bay City-based company is in the business of combining cannabis and entertainment, looking to create a safe place to ingest marijuana, Sulemanjee-Bortocek said.
The 24-lane bowling alley, Washington Lanes, is open on the same block.
Michigan has no licensed consumption lounges in operation, but is among at least seven states where they are legal.
Neither Kalamazoo, Ypsilanti or Ann Arbor have placed a cap on the number of consumption lounges that can open, according to the state’s records.
In metro Detroit, Hazel Park has no local limits on consumption lounges that have been recorded by the state, while Ferndale and Warren have banned them.
They also have to show how they will destroy leftover cannabis products, provide a smoke-free room for employees to monitor consumption areas and install a smoke ventilation system.
However, the state is talking with potential consumption business owners to see how it can potentially modify regulations to help them get open and succeed, he said.