Is THCA legal in Michigan? Michigan hemp, CBD, delta-8 and kratom laws

The law in Michigan

Michigan defines hemp in its marijuana law, not its farm law. The Industrial Hemp Research and Development Act, 2014 PA 547, borrows the definition of industrial hemp from section 3 of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, the voter initiative of 2018: a cannabis plant, part, seed or extract with a THC concentration of 0.3 percent or less on a dry weight basis, and a consumer product at 0.3 percent or less by dry weight or by volume. Anything over that line is marihuana.

What makes Michigan's line distinctive is its definition of THC. From October 11, 2021, when 2021 PA 56 took effect, THC has meant tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, any tetrahydrocannabinol whether artificially or naturally derived, and their structural, optical and geometric isomers. The Cannabis Regulatory Agency may exclude a tetrahydrocannabinol from that list only after findings on its potential for abuse.

1. January 15, 20192018 PA 641 takes effect, opening commercial hemp growing and the processor-handler license.
2. October 11, 20212021 PA 56 takes effect: THC now includes THCA and any tetrahydrocannabinol, natural or artificial.
3. April 13, 2022Executive Reorganization Order 2022-1 moves processor-handler licensing to the Cannabis Regulatory Agency.
4. December 16, 2025The Senate passes SB 599, a new Industrial Hemp Processing Act; it goes to a House committee.
5. March 18, 2026The House passes HB 5537 to bar producing and selling kratom; it goes to a Senate committee.
6. December 11, 2026The federal limit of 0.4 mg total THC per container begins.

THCA, delta-8 and smokable flower

Because THCA is named in the definition of THC, THCA counts toward Michigan's 0.3 percent limit. Hemp flower whose THC, THCA included, runs above it is marihuana, a matter for the state's licensed marihuana businesses, which sell only to adults 21 and older. The statute does not say how THCA is to be added to other forms of THC, and we found no rule, Attorney General opinion or appeals court ruling that settles the arithmetic.

Delta-8 THC counts too, since the definition reaches every tetrahydrocannabinol and its isomers, natural or made. The agency's hemp guidance says a registered grower needs a processor-handler license, or a medical marihuana processor license, to make or sell finished hemp products, smokable flower included.

The marijuana act also tells the agency to set a limit on the total amount of THC a hemp product for human or animal consumption may contain, in section 8(1)(n). The agency's industrial hemp rules in the Michigan Administrative Code, R 420.1001 to R 420.1004, set no such per-serving or per-container figure as published, so the 0.3 percent concentration is the only number in force that we found.

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Licenses: the processor-handler rule

Section 7 of the hemp act bars anyone from processing, handling, brokering or marketing industrial hemp in Michigan without a processor-handler license, except colleges and universities, licensed medical marihuana processors and testing facilities. The act defines marketing as promoting or selling hemp or a hemp product, so the license reaches sellers as well as makers. The fee in section 16 is $1,350, and the license runs from December 1 through November 30.

Executive Reorganization Order 2022-1, effective April 13, 2022, moved that license from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, and left grower registration, at $100 under section 16, with the agriculture department. The agency's guidance adds that the applicant's handling, storage, processing and brokering locations must be in Michigan, and that Michigan does not require hemp products to be registered.

Section 19 of the act bars cities, villages and townships from adopting their own rules that restrict hemp. A violation of the act can bring an administrative fine of $100 to $2,000, plus investigation costs and double any economic benefit, under section 17.

CBD in food and pet products

The agency's hemp processing guidance says hemp-derived cannabinoids may not be made into food for sale at this time, pointing to the federal Food and Drug Administration's position on hemp as a food additive, and that products without marihuana must follow all food safety laws. The same guidance says the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development regulates animal feed and pet food, and that hemp and hemp products are not approved feed ingredients. Topicals and tinctures at 0.3 percent THC or less, the guidance says, may be sold under a processor-handler license.

Bills still pending

Senate Bill 599 would replace the 2014 act with an Industrial Hemp Processing Act, with licenses for processing and selling consumable hemp products; it passed the Senate 30 to 5 on December 16, 2025 and was referred to the House Committee on Regulatory Reform the next day. Senate Bill 608, which would repeal most sections of the Industrial Hemp Growers Act, 2020 PA 220, passed the Senate 32 to 0 on June 4, 2026 and went to the same House committee. Neither had become law when we read the Michigan Compiled Laws, current through 2026 PA 114.

Kratom, kava, amanita and spores

Michigan's schedules in the Public Health Code do not list kratom, mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine. House Bill 5537 would add a section to the Michigan Penal Code barring the production and sale of kratom. It passed the House 56 to 48, with immediate effect, on March 18, 2026, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations on March 24. A separate bill, House Bill 4969, would license kratom sellers instead; it was reported from committee with a substitute in November 2025 and re-referred to the House Committee on Regulatory Reform on June 10, 2026.

Psilocybin and psilocyn are schedule 1 under MCL 333.7212. We found no Michigan statute naming kava, amanita muscaria or its compounds, or mushroom spores.

The federal change on December 11

From December 11, 2026, the federal definition counts total THC including THCA and limits a finished hemp-derived cannabinoid product to 0.4 mg per container. Read the federal page and What's changing on December 11.