On Michigan’s border, marijuana shops spark battle for communities’ soul

• Michigan border communities tend to have a greater share of  marijuana dispensaries than other towns 
• In places like Menominee and Coldwater, that’s prompted some angst and debate about community character
• The towns rely on tax money from the dispensaries, but the industry is slowing

One recent day, Richard Kerrigan drove some 90 minutes from his home in Grant County, Indiana, to a marijuana dispensary in Coldwater, just over the border in Michigan.

Marijuana is illegal in Indiana, and Kerrigan said he “just wanted to see what it was.” He wasn’t alone. Eight in 10 customers that day at Exclusive Cannabis had crossed the border for flowers, edibles, pre-rolls and more.

That’s par for the course in Michigan’s border towns along Indiana and Wisconsin, where pot has reshaped downtowns and, some say, the character of communities.

Coldwater, population less than 15,000, has 13 dispensaries. Near Wisconsin, Menominee, population roughly 8,000, has seven. Iron, Gogebic, and Menominee counties to the north and Branch and St. Joseph counties to the south each have more than three dispensaries per 10,000 people. Wayne County, by comparison, has 0.49.

That concentration of cannabis has flushing communities with cash and created a stream of business but prompted debate about community standards. 

• Read more: Michigan marijuana market catering amid oversupply, ‘difficult market’

Towns that have tried to limit marijuana businesses have faced lawsuits, and many residents are getting fed up. 

“You drive through Menominee right now and you get the impression all they do is sell dope,” said lifelong Menominee resident Fred Hofer Jr. “When you’re trying to attract businesses, families with kids for the school system … There’s just a lot of people that don’t want that impression.”

Now, as marijuana sales have fallen statewide for the fourth straight month, some fear the more than 850 cannabis businesses around the state have oversaturated the market. 

“That's always a concern, especially in any state that doesn't limit their licenses,” said Narmin Jarrous, chief development officer for Exclusive Cannabis. “I think the only thing we can do, though, is set ourselves apart in customer service and quality and selection.” 

Pot profits

The New Buffalo area, a Lake Michigan tourism community about five minutes from the Indiana border, has always had its fair share of out-of-town traffic. 

But not like now, residents say, with six dispensaries in New Buffalo Township and 27 dispensaries in surrounding Berrien County. 

At a township board meeting in May, residents slammed the board for allowing so many dispensaries, which many said bring dangerous levels of traffic to the township of about 2,500 residents.

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The Moorings Association, which runs private boat docks, had to hire extra security to stop all the trespassers.

“We get a lot of complaints about people smoking dope on the beach,” said Glenn Logan, president of the Moorings Association. “They don’t mind stop signs, they do U-turns on (US-)12. It’s a problem.”

Michigan law allows municipalities to bar marijuana sales, and hundreds have done so. In Coldwater, officials debated years ago over whether to allow the businesses, but early fears did not come to pass, said Coldwater Mayor Thomas Kramer.

Crime has not gone up. Traffic remains manageable. 

In fact, marijuana has helped revitalize the town, he said, as dispensaries moved into long-vacant buildings, sprucing up storefronts and keeping area contractors busy.

“It’s changed, but only in the positive,” the mayor said. “I would be glad to tell if you there was any negative to talk about, but there hasn’t been.”

Mark Micallef, co-founder of Exclusive Cannabis, said it’s hard to find employees in the small towns that dot the state lines, but Exclusive’s Coldwater location employs more than 30 people. 

“We have a pretty good relationship with all the communities we’re in,” Micallef said. “We try to give back when we can.”

Iron County in February received nearly $350,000 in marijuana tax revenue, an amount equal to 6% of the county’s annual general fund budget. That equals nearly $300,000 per 10,000 residents, more marijuana revenue per capita than any other county in Michigan.

The Iron County administrator referred questions about dispensaries’ impact to the county prosecutor, who did not return messages seeking comment.

In Coldwater, which received more than $750,000 in cannabis tax revenue earlier this year, the money has gone toward park renovations and the city plans to use some for a facelift of US-12, the main artery through town.

“We’re trying to use that money to benefit everybody, as opposed to just putting it back into the coffers,” Kramer said.

When a community brings cannabis business to town, “I think that there’s good and bad things, and how much you feel is good or bad depends on your perspective,” said Nathan Joyal, who opened the Upper Peninsula’s first marijuana storefront and now works as an assistant professor teaching about cannabis at Northern Michigan University. 

THC tourism?

It’s against the law to transport marijuana across state lines, and it’s illegal to possess marijuana in Wisconsin or Indiana. It’s also against the law to drive while high, and intoxication from cannabis can last as long as six hours.

In theory, all of those out-of-state shoppers should therefore have to park themselves somewhere in Michigan — a store? a restaurant? a hotel? – to enjoy what they bought in Michigan.

That doesn’t always happen.

Indiana doesn’t specifically track arrests for marijuana brought in from Michigan, but “I would be remiss to think it didn’t happen every day to some degree,” said Capt. Ronald Galaviz, chief public information officer for the Indiana State Police.

Kramer, the Coldwater mayor, said hotels are busy but he hasn’t seen any evidence of a tourism uptick from marijuana.

“They’re not coming up to shop or have dinner or whatever,” he said.

But that hasn’t stopped communities from trying to capitalize on all the new out-of-state traffic.

The Southwest Michigan tourism bureau, for example, has curated a “cannabis and nature itinerary” and lists local dispensaries on its website (ditto for places like Grand Rapdis and Ann Arbor) . 

A cannabis cottage industry has formed. A website, MICannaTrail.com, maps dispensaries and cannabis-related events across different regions of the state. Groups such as PrivaDrive offer cannabis-themed tours. 

Joyal, of NMU, said cannabis tourism is increasingly promoted by communities around Michigan, just like wineries or brewpubs, and businesses such as hotels and restaurants can promote themselves as part of the experience.

“There are people that support that and there are plenty of institutions that provide it, so I think there is a valid mechanism here where other businesses in the community can get on board,” he said.

Joyal said it wouldn’t surprise him if 80% of those dispensaries’ business came from out of state.

Statewide, the industry is plummeting, with decreasing prices and oversupply. In June, a Toronto-based cannabis company, TerrAscend, announced it is closing 20 stores and four cultivation facilities and exiting the Michigan market.

At least until Indiana and Wisconsin legalize marijuana — and lawmakers in both states have tried to do so — dispensaries in the border towns will be able to absorb the fluctuations of the market, Joyal said.

“I don’t see any concern,” said Jukoada Sexton, manager of Coldwater’s Craft Cannabis in Branch County. “The out-of-staters, we’re thriving on them.”