Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General will evaluate the Michigan Medical Marihuana Program (MMMP) to determine “the effectiveness of MMMP’s administration of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act” and “assess MMMP’s compliance with legislative reporting requirements,” according to an announcement on the department’s website.
The OAG conducts both financial and performance audits of government departments and services.
Performance audits are conducted to find potential ways to improve state government operations, while financial audits are conducted “generally based upon state and federal mandates.”
It appears the MMMP audit will be of the performance variety as they investigate the “effectiveness” of the program, which Michigan voters established via a 2008 ballot initiative.
On its website, the OAG defines ‘effectiveness’ as “producing the outcome desired by the citizens of Michigan and mandated by the Legislature, and efficiency is a measure of useful services delivered compared with the resources applied.”
The site lists about 50 in-progress projects, including the MMMP audit for the office of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The OAG is also conducting a performance audit of the LARA-administered Bureau of Services to Blind Persons, and a financial audit of the Liquor Purchase Revolving Fund.
In their announcement, the OAG noted that the MMMP had 182,091 active patients with 34,269 active caregivers, received 81,090 initial applications and 22,879 renewal applications during fiscal year 2015. The program had spent $4.2 million over that same period.
The OAG estimates they will release their findings in “mid 2016.”