Former Detroit Lions Wide Receiver, Calvin Johnson Jr and his wife Brittany, have received preliminary approval to open a medical cannabis business in Michigan.
Johnson had previously applied for permits to open a medical cannabis cultivation, processing, and dispensing facility in Webberville but the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) denied them in December due to unpaid traffic tickets and an associated warrant from more than a decade ago.
After Johnson flew to Atlanta and resolved the issue, he and his business partner Robert Sims were able to obtain unanimous preliminary approval from the board to operate a provisioning center under the name Michigan Community Collective.
Johnson and Sims will need to obtain approval from a local board before they can begin operations. In the future, they will be using the brand name Primitive.
“Calvin is grateful and looks forward to operating with his brand Primitive in this new venture,” the former NFL star’s lawyer Michael Stein told Detroit Free Press. “Information contained in the new application explained some of the issues that were presented in the December applications. We didn’t have that information then, but it got taken care of.”
According to MLive, several locations are under consideration at this time, but none have been selected.
Johnson began playing for the Lions in 2007 and announced his retirement on March 8, 2016, at the age of 30. The Seattle Seahawks drafted Sims in 2006, and he was traded to the Detroit Lions in 2010 before retiring after the 2014 season.
