Minnesota cannabis regulators ditch initial lottery for early business licenses
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota cannabis regulators are pushing a plan to begin the rollout of the state's legal marijuana market to the spring of next year following a judge's decision to halt a planned lottery last month that would've chosen the first business license holders.
Because of that legal fight, the Office of Cannabis Management — the regulatory agency tasked with oversight of the budding industry — on Wednesday said they are ditching the license "preapproval" process that would've fast-tracked some businesses so they could get a head start to be ready for market launch.
Now their focus shifts to a general licensing period beginning early next year. Charlene Briner, the interim cannabis chief, told reporters that after the agency reviewed its options, proceeding this way is the best path forward to ensure there are no other delays to market launch.
"The decision to end the license preapproval process and move forward with standard licensing shortly after the new year has two primary benefits. It preserves, at least in part, some of the early mover advantages for social equity applicants that were envisioned by the legislature in that preapproval process. And secondly, it also keeps us moving forward towards a timely market launch in 2025," Briner said.
Individuals who meet social equity applicant criteria were allowed to apply for license preapproval. Cannabis regulators reviewed all applications and ultimately dismissed two-thirds of them for failing to provide proper documentation and running afoul of the law, prompting some prospective business owners to sue. A judge then issued a stay on the lottery, planned for Nov. 24.
The 648 people the office approved for that drawing will automatically move forward to the general licensing period without having to re-apply or pay additional fees, Briner said.
"While this announcement today does not fully address the disappointment of the 648 qualified applicants who expected to be entered into a lottery on Nov. 26, our commitment to the principles of social equity is undiminished, and those principles are central to this new path forward," Briner said.
Applications for licenses will open in mid-February. Those who applied for license preapproval but were denied will have another chance to get approved to operate a cannabis business.
There are more than a dozen license categories, but state law caps the number of licenses for four different types: cultivators, manufacturers, retailers and mezzobusinesses. The latter will allow operators to control multiple parts of the supply chain on a smaller scale.
If there are more applications for those four categories of licenses than actual licenses available, there will be lotteries for each of them.
And there will be two separate lotteries, Briner said: one for social equity applicants and another for everyone else who doesn't fit that criteria.
Choosing who gets a license in those categories will happen in May or June of next year.