Up North Progressive

Former State House Rep and one of Osceola County’s finest Rick Johnson (R – Lobbyists giving me money to get a spot on the next MMLB’s agenda isn’t a bribe, it’s a place-holder) has found himself in a spot of bother over his tenure as president of the disbanded Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board.

In 2008 the people of Michigan voted to legalize marijuana for medical use. Dispensaries popped up around the state, patients received their medical marijuana prescription cards, and things were fine.

Then Rick Snyder (R – Poisoned Flint with lead and got off scott-free!) was elected Governor. Suddenly, medical marijuana dispensaries were all operating illegally, and the Michigan State Police raided shops all over the state. The medical marijuana law was overhauled in 2016, and the new law created the Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board. Snyder’s appointments to this board included an MSP sergeant from Traverse City who loved busting people for weed, a former CEO, a pharmacist from Mattawan, an executive board member of the right-wing Police Officers’ Association of Michigan, and a former Speaker of the State House turned lobbyist Rick Johnson of Leroy. Johnson became the first, last, and only chair of the MMLB.



Right away, there were problems with the new board. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R – taking a lobbying job right after holding office is the sweetest gig in the state!), who nominated Johnson, was caught emailing the chair with a list of people he wanted fast-tracked onto the agenda in 2019. This was in direct violation of the 2016 law. Indeed, a former lobbyist wouldn’t help people and companies he worked for get preferential treatment.

He did more than that. Rick Johnson’s under investigation for using his seat on the MMLB to take bribes from businesses wanting medical marijuana licenses. This is not a recent development either, and it appears the investigation started while Johnson still chaired the board. The FBI raided the home of another lobbyist, Brian Pierce, in 2020, and Pierce lobbied for companies wanting medical marijuana licenses.

Thanks to a related lawsuit, this story has hit the news again. In 2021, Johnson hired a law firm, Secrest Wardle, and neglected to pay his legal fees.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer put the crime-ridden MMLB out of business and restored medical marijuana regulation to the state in 2019, where it should have been all along.

It seems as though the 2016 overhaul of the medical marijuana law was an excuse to help businesses get an inside track to obtaining licenses. Michigan ranks dead last in the country for government transparency, which is why scandals like this continue to surface in our state. Rick should have stuck with growing trees.