Is Michigan About to Start Spying on People Who Buy Weed?

So, here’s a wild idea the state of Michigan is floating: giving cannabis regulators real-time access to security cameras inside every licensed marijuana business.

And I’m not just for after the fact investigations. They're talking about all the time, whenever they feel like watching in on your neighborhood dispensary.

If that sounds like something out of a dystopian novel, you’re not the only one who thinks so.

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Right now, dispensaries and cannabis companies already have to follow some pretty strict rules to stay above the board.

For example, they currently have to record video at key points like sales counters, storage rooms, entrances and keep the footage for 30 days in case the state wants to take a peek during an investigation. Okay, fair enough.

But under a proposed rule change being considered by the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA), businesses would now have to hand over live access via a secure web-based portal.

In other words, someone at the CRA could log in at any moment and watch what’s happening inside your local dispensary. Normal totally legal things like customers browsing, employees chatting, people just living their lives.

No warrant. No reason. Just… random surveillance. That feels a little weird, right? Even as a customer, I don’t love the idea of someone from the state government spying on which flavor of edible I’m buying for my weekend shenanigans.

Critics are understandably raising eyebrows. One consultant pointed out the CRA could technically sit there and watch him have a private conversation from a camera in someone’s office. And it’s not clear if or how this live feed could be shared with other government agencies.

Up Next: See what it looks like inside of a Michigan Marijuana growing facility ⬇️

What started as an effort to keep illicit weed out of the market is starting to feel like something much bigger, and frankly, a bit unsettling.

Michigan’s cannabis customers might want to keep an eye on who’s watching them. Because pretty soon, the answer might be “literally anyone with a CRA login.