Minnesota's new THC regulations: What enforcement is doing and common issues
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A red light for some green products: Minnesota regulators are finding several issues with some THC products.
WCCO's Jonah Kaplan looked into how enforcement is working within Minnesota's new cannabis laws.
The transition happened over the summer: Minnesota Board of Pharmacy to the Office of Medical Cannabis, under the umbrella of the health department. The good news, medical cannabis knows cannabis. But they only had two inspectors for two manufacturers. Now there's a registration of 2,600 entities that want to either make or sell THC products in Minnesota.
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Among them is Hemp House in St. Paul and owner Logan Konigson said one of those inspectors visited last month.
"They're just making sure all our product is labeled properly," Konigson said. "We've been really on top of making sure that we're compliant with whatever regulations are going on right now."
The key regulation for THC products is how much THC per serving: No more than 5 milligrams. Per package, no more than 50 mg for food and 10 mg for drinks.
Health inspectors have made about 80 visits and four out of five times they've found something wrong. But the amount of THC isn't the problem.
"Vapes is probably the most common noncompliant product we're seeing," Chris Tholkes with the Office of Medical Cannabis. "The second thing that we're seeing in terms of most noncompliant are products we would consider synthetics. Those are not naturally found in the plant, those are human-created."
For now, officials say the answer to noncompliance is education. Repeat offenders, however, could face cease and desist orders and fines up to $10,000.
"We really want people to have trustworthy businesses," Tholkes said. "We want consumers to feel that they can trust the business. And so, we want to start that foundation in our initial visits."
Those visits will increase. The state's health department plans to add six more inspectors, which is three times as many as there are now.
The Office of Medical Cannabis' role is only temporary until 2025. That's when the new Office of Cannabis Management will take over all marijuana-related regulations in Minnesota.