MARQUETTE, MI— A cannabis company is blaming high tax rates for the closure of five of its
nine Upper Peninsula dispensaries.
In a press release Monday, Higher Love said it was suspending operations at its Crystal Falls, Escanaba, Houghton, Munising, and Ontonagon locations. The company said the combined impact of a new 24-percent tax on certain wholesale marijuana sales and transfers, in a market already subject to a 10-percent retail excise tax and 6-percent sales tax, drove the decision.
Officials said that has created an increasingly unsustainable operating environment, particularly for businesses serving smaller and rural communities.
Higher Love will continue serving customers at its dispensaries in Ironwood, Marquette, Menominee, and Norway.
