Michigan voters approve Proposal 1 to become the first Midwest state to legalize recreational cannabis

On November 6, 2018—ten years to the week after approving their 2008 medical cannabis initiative—Michigan voters passed Proposal 1 (the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, or MRTMA) by a vote of 55.89% Yes (2,356,422 votes) to 44.11% No (1,859,675 votes). With the vote, Michigan became the tenth state in the country—and the first state in the Midwest—to legalize recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older.

What Michigan’s Proposal 1 legalized

Taking effect on December 6, 2018, Michigan’s voter-initiated statute set some of the most generous personal possession and home cultivation limits in the nation:

• Public possession: Up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis flower (including up to 15 grams of cannabis concentrate).
• Home storage: Up to 10 ounces of cannabis kept at home (with any amount over 2.5 ounces stored in a locked container).
• Home cultivation: Up to 12 cannabis plants per household for personal use, grown out of public view in an enclosed, locked space.
• Retail market launch: Michigan’s first licensed adult-use dispensaries opened in Ann Arbor on December 1, 2019, and over the next six years Michigan grew to rival California in monthly legal unit sales.

Missouri and Utah approve medical cannabis on the same night

Also on November 6, 2018, voters in two conservative states approved medical marijuana ballot initiatives: Missouri voters passed Amendment 2 with 65.59% Yes, and Utah voters approved Proposition 2 with 52.75% Yes (while North Dakota voters defeated recreational Measure 3 with 59.45% No).