What really is going on in Menominee

Marijuana was legalized in Michigan, and eventually Menominee opened their doors for an unlimited number of dispensaries to come set up shop. Now Menominee’s a small town, but with a deceptively big market for Cannabis. That’s because it’s within an hours drive of Green Bay, Wisconsin, a large city in a state that hasn’t legalized pot sales - at least not yet.

So a number of cannabis companies applied for licenses. Eight companies were approved fairly quickly. One of those companies was LUME Cannabis- remember that name, it’s an important part of our story, we’ll come back to it. All these companies spent money, built out stores, hired staff, and were in business in short order. A company that didn’t get a license was PUFF Cannabis. But PUFF was told, in no uncertain terms, that they were allowed to proceed. In fact they were told specifically by city manager Brett Botbyl in writing that they could consider his correspondence as approval to move forward. You can see the actual documents on this website under the “See the actual Documents” tab.

So PUFF did just that. Bought a building, spent almost 2 million renovating it. Bought two adjacent buildings to act as a buffer between them and their neighbors - cost them another 2 million dollars.

And just to be clear, EVERYONE at city hall surely knew what was PUFF was doing and how much money they were spending. After all they are right next store to each other. If you worked at City Hall, you couldn’t have missed the dozens of locally hired carpenters, painters, glaziers, plumbers - well you get it. You couldn’t have missed all of the work that was being completed. And you would have seen this beautifully, fully renovated PUFF retail building, bright colors, new signs, just steps from your door. They all knew that PUFF was making a substantial investment, and NOBODY said a thing. In fact money was flowing from PUFF to the city in the form of application fees from day one.

OK -  Fast-forward a bit - Puff is ready to open. Signs are up, floors polished, product readied, locals hired. And viola - the rug is pulled out from under them, the football snatched just as the kicker was about to kick a field gaol - (That’s a Charlie Brown reference by the way.) A shiny new beautiful retail store that was among the very best in the whole of Menominee. A company ready to sell a 100% legal product, a company that was invited in, a company that did every thing right, every step of the way. A company which the city had already profited from, was told “You’re not welcome here.”  City Hall slammed the door in PUFF’s face.

First they said that the building wasn’t up to code. That wasn’t true, as every I was dotted and every T was crossed. The good construction people of Menominee worked tirelessly, and performed to perfection. That building as it stands now is one of the best in the city.

Next they said that the Michigan Department of Transportation wouldn’t approve the opening because of parking lot issues. That wasn’t true either, even MDOT themselves say so in writing. They never had an unsolvable issue with PUFF. Again you can see relevant documents right here on this website - courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act.

So why the delay? Well we know for a fact that a group out of Lansing, MI campaigned to get a ballot proposal in last August’s election, with the purpose of limiting the number of dispensaries in Menominee to 9. Well that hardly seems fair when PUFF and 4 other companies had already been given the go-ahead and were at some stage of development, spending millions of their own money.

Let’s take a closer look at that Lansing group (that’s right - Lansing). It’s called Defending Menominee . An interesting fact about them - other than they really have no connection to a town 430 miles away on the other side of a Great Lake - is that an attorney who represented them, Kevin Blair, also represented LUME Cannabis. Ah LUME Cannabis - I told you we’d come back to them. LUME Cannabis is a Michigan based company with 35 stores and annual sales of $135 Million. Their brightest star is their Menominee store, which tallies $35M a year or 40% of their gross sales every year. Wow those other 34 stores must be dogs huh? Now PUFF in contrast has 13 stores - and they do the same amount of sales each year - $135M. It seems probable that PUFF is better managed, has better stores and better product. Tough competition for LUME.

I wonder what LUME thought of PUFF coming to Menominee to compete with their “drive-through only” eyesore - er I mean retail shop. That’s right - it doesn’t even have an “open to the public interior.” Drive down Main Street and you’ll see the line-up of cars in the parking lot, the gaggle of LUME employees passing out product and taking payment right there out in the open. Yeah it’s a legal product, but it does look a bit unseemly in my opinion.

Well no matter - LUME in Menominee is up and running and making MILLIONS every month. While PUFF is still closed.

So back to our story. This whole Menominee saying “we could”, and then after we spend millions saying “we can’t”, misrepresenting things seemingly to delay just enough to allow a “less than honest” ballot proposal through, not to mention spending loads of dollars in Menominee taxpayer money - $130,000 a year on legal insurance alone, much more on legal counsel. It looks really bad for a city whose first priority should be looking out for its citizens.

There is a way to fix this!

PUFF, along with the 4 other spurned cannabis companies are leading their own ballot initiative. This one asks to raise the cap on the number of dispensaries from 9 to 13.

What would that do exactly? All of the lawsuits that are pending would more than likely go away. That’s right - there would be no more reason to sue the city - if they just honored their initial commitments.

That also means a huge reduction in the cost of legal representation and insurance. This is a real cost that Menominee residents are paying today.

In addition there would be a substantial increase in revenue to the city itself. The cannabis industry has already benefited the community in numerous ways. Even the Mayor of Menominee says that without the Cannabis industry coming to Menominee, this city would be in a world of hurt.

BTW the Mayor has offered up a great solution that might make everyone happy. His proposal is that Menominee adopts a policy that reduces dispensaries through attrition. That is when a cannabis company goes out of business, and it’s a certainty that some will, that license will not be given to anyone else. So if there’s 13 dispensaries and one goes away, then the licenses will be capped at 12. The another goes away, the licenses will be capped at 11. Eventually the number will be at or below what is on the table now.

So where do things stand now?

PUFF lost their initial lawsuit - it was dismissed by a local judge and is now at the appeals level, where maybe a more impartial look will turn the outcome.

In court, high priced lawyers argued that PUFF tried to bully City Council, by making a short documentary. Bully? Please. The documentary asked - politely - if City Manager Brett Botbyl would like to tell his side of the story. After all - there are a lot of things that just don’t make sense. There was an interview with the Mayor. Also with a city councilman,. And residents of Menominee. No one seemed to be in fear of talking on camera. In fact they WANTED to tell their story. It seems like the only bullying being done here is by the company (LUME) that is making $35 million a year off the good folk of Menominee, and some billionaire owners.

So listen. It’s time to make things right. This November there will be a vote. A vote to restore the good name of Menominee. A vote that says NO to backroom deals with billionaires and folks that don’t live here. A vote that rights a wrong, that saves you potentially millions, that ends the lawsuits, and that will bring millions of dollars into your community. There’s a small window to take advantage of this great opportunity. At some point Wisconsin will legalize marijuana, just as 40 others states already have. And when that happens, the pot business in Menominee is going to dry up - business will fail, and most importantly a badly need source of revenue for the city will be gone. And I bet there will be no more Billionaires from metro Detroit willing to hand out money here in Menominee. I bet there won’t be any outsiders from Lansing telling us that they are going to save ourselves, from ourselves.

No they will all move on.

And we’ll still be here..