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Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management is working with DFL lawmakers to introduce new legislation (SF 4782) that would make some modest changes to the cannabis legalization bill passed last spring.
Charlene Briner, the interim director of the Office of Cannabis Management, said on a conference call with reporters that the aim of the proposed changes is to “strengthen the existing foundation” of the legislation passed last year.
One main focus is a reworking of the law’s so-called social equity provisions, which are intended to give a leg up to would-be cannabis entrepreneurs from economically disadvantaged areas, as well as those who have faced prior legal trouble over marijuana enforcement.
Among other things, the new bill allows the Office of Cannabis Management to issue a limited number of early temporary licenses to equity applicants to create “an early mover advantage” for those applicants, Briner said. The goal is to make those licenses available in July of 2024, ahead of the “early 2025” target for issuance of regular licenses.
Briner stressed that the temporary equity licensees would not be able sell or grow cannabis or open their doors to customers until after the Office of Cannabis Management finalizes rulemaking and begins issuing regular licenses. But they would be able to commence other business preparations, including obtaining a site, getting approval from local authorities, and raising capital.
The new bill would also consolidate the medical and recreational cannabis supply chains. Briner said most other states have seen that happen after recreational legalization, and doing it after the fact would be “incredibly expensive” for both businesses and consumers.
Briner noted that while the office’s goal is to begin issuing regular licenses in early 2025, retail stores likely won’t open right away because it will take time to grow the product and move it through the supply chain.
