Michigan elections are almost here!

Since voters legalized cannabis in 2018, Michigan has seen the real and measurable benefits of legalization sales. Michigan reduced cannabis arrests from 20,600 in 2017 to 401 in 2025. The human cost that prohibition brought on in Michigan is hard to calculate. A cannabis arrest haunts a person for the rest of their life, stymieing economic, educational, and parental opportunities and rights. 

We have also seen teen use drop 34% in those few years. And Michigan is not an outlier, as every state that has legalized has seen a substantial drop in youth use and access to cannabis, according to federal data. 

Legal cannabis also allows residents of Michigan to have a safe, regulated option to use cannabis while also paying for programs that strengthen the place they live. Since legal sales began in December 2019, adult-use cannabis taxes have generated $2.1 billion for the state. That money goes directly back into Michigan’s communities, and even more for local governments that allow cannabis businesses to operate.

These are the benefits of legalization, but that progress isn’t guaranteed. It depends on who we elect.

Voters will have an opportunity to decide who represents them in the state capitol. The entire House of Representatives and the Senate are up for election. While MPP did not have the bandwidth to survey candidates for the state legislature, we were able to highlight the two top-polling gubernatorial candidates' policy stances on cannabis. 

Jocelyn Benson (D) is Michigan’s current Secretary of State. While she has taken a cautious approach on rolling back the state’s wholesale cannabis tax, her focus has been on reforming ethics and transparency laws she perceives as unduly influencing the industry.

John James (R) has made repealing, or lowering, the wholesale cannabis tax central to his campaign. A governor does not have that power alone and would need to work with the state legislature to accomplish that goal. In 2018, he stated that he did not vote for the legalization of cannabis.

For federal offices, our friends at Michigan NORML provided a voter guide as well.