INDIANAPOLIS – Some growers of legalized marijuana – the latest cash crop in some states – along with the stores that sell it, have reason to be concerned.

A much higher tax on marijuana in Michigan is being sought by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as part of her plan to generate $3 billion in extra revenue to fix roads and other infrastructure.

Indiana, where marijuana remains illegal, could ban the advertising of marijuana dispensaries in the state.

Growers and retailers in Michigan like R.J. Walpole are more worried about the potential impact a higher tax would have on sales.

Walpole said a number of his customers are from the Chicago area and prefer the much lower prices of marijuana products in Michigan. The state’s taxes are well below those assessed at dispensaries in Illinois.

If the price gap is narrowed, he’s afraid second homeowners in the area won’t stop in as much before heading back to the Chicago area. Those living there full-time may not be as willing to make the more than one hour trip on weekends to save a bundle on their purchases.

“I think that’s what’s going to hurt us more than anything,” he said.

Walpole is co-owner of Smoke Lifted, a dispensary and grow operation that opened just over a year ago in Buchanan.

Recently, Whitmer proposed an extra 32 percent tax on marijuana in addition to the current 10 percent state excise tax and 6 percent sales tax levied on purchases.

Michigan is the fifth leading grower of marijuana nationwide and, by far, the largest in the Midwest with over 200 metric tons produced annually.

Walpole is his own supplier with 300 marijuana plants raised in several grow rooms at his dispensary, which became the sixth one to open in Buchanan, a community of about 4,500 residents in the southwest part of the state.

He’s also more worried about losing customers making the short trip from Indiana if that state caves in to mounting pressure and legalizes marijuana at some point. 

For now, though, Walpole said business at his shop continues to rise.

“We thought December, January and February would be our slow months and, really, we’re still on the upward climb,” he said.

Walpole said he doesn’t advertise in Indiana and believes dispensaries in Michigan that do would not be impacted much if the state imposes a ban on advertising pot. He said Indiana residents already know where to go to legally purchase the drug.

The real advantage of advertising for marijuana shops is to distinguish themselves from the others and provide specific locations to their stores.

“Indiana knows Michigan is legal so they’re coming to Michigan either way. It’s just a matter of how can they find you,” he said.

A proposal in the Indiana Senate would ban all forms of marijuana dispensary advertising in the state. Another measure in the Indiana House of Representatives would prohibit billboards advertising marijuana dispensaries from being within 1,000 feet of a school bus route, playground and other places where children typically congregate.

Supporters like State Rep. Jim Pressel (R-20th district) emphasized recreational marijuana is legal in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois yet promoted here in a state where the products remain illegal.

“Should we be advertising it and making it look like it’s a legal here?  I don’t believe that is good policy,” he said.

Medical marijuana recently became legal in Kentucky, which still outlaws its recreational use.

Pressel said the flood of billboards advertising marijuana dispensaries and their products on major Indiana roadways is bad enough.

Now, Pressel said marijuana shops across state lines are sending flyers and other forms of literature about what they offer to Indiana residents in their mailboxes.

“They’re actually sending out mailers. We need to get in front of that,” he said.

At least one Indiana community inundated by such advertising recently came out in support of the proposed legislation.

The boundaries of Michigan City nearly extend to Michigan where almost a dozen marijuana shops exist on the opposite side of the Indiana border along U.S. 12. Another dozen or more dispensaries in Michigan also exist on the other side of the state line along nearby Interstate 94.

Without opposition, the city council on Feb. 18 adopted a resolution in support of the advertising ban and restrictions proposed in the Indiana legislature.

Councilman Don Przybylinski said children in the community with more than a dozen marijuana dispensary billboards “should not be exposed to such advertising in their home environments.”

Councilwoman Daisy Lee, a public school teacher, said advertising marijuana, particularly among children, seems to “normalize” the use of products still producing arrests in the state.

She was also concerned because dispensary products like THC cartridges are similar to the vapes students are using in school restrooms for nicotine, the addictive ingredient in tobacco.

“When these things are advertised constantly, it makes it more OK for the kids to have access to it,” she said. 

Michigan City resident Tommy Kulavik seemed a bit outraged at being a target for advertisers of products still classified under federal law as a controlled substance.

“I’m kind of getting sick and tired of getting all of their marketing material and advertising letters in my mailbox,” he said.

Scott Mellon, also of Michigan City, said he understands both sides of the advertising issue but the proposals, if adopted, would be an example of government overreach and possibly challenged in the courts based on freedom of speech laws protected in the U.S. Constitution.

“We can’t protect kids from the world. You think kids don’t know what’s available across the border? They know,” he said.

The proposed advertising ban is before the Senate Judiciary Committee while the proposal for restrictions is in the House Committee on Commerce and Technology for review.

So far, no hearings have been scheduled to consider the proposals.

Pressel believes some type of handle placed on marijuana advertising in the state has a chance of advancing to a full vote in the house and senate.

“We don’t need to promote it to where consumers believe it is a legal substance. I just think that is unfair to everybody. We’re addressing it. Hopefully, we’ll get it across the finish line,” he said.

Medical marijuana is legal in 39 states. Twenty-four states allow it for medicinal and recreational purposes. The growers in each state are licensed and formally categorized as agricultural operations.