Minnesota’s Legal Marijuana Rollout is Halted by Judge

The journey to make marijuana retail locations a reality in Minnesota has hit another speed bump that could further delay the rollout of dispensaries in the state.

The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management was set to hold its first lottery for the first cannabis licenses last week, but that was abruptly halted when a judge in Ramsey County stepped in.

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Why The Delay in Minnesota?

The lottery for 282 licenses that covered everything from growing to retail dispensaries will have to wait until the lawsuits that were filled from rejected applicants is worked out in the legal system.

What is The Problem Causing the Lawsuits?

So here's the breakdown of what's going on, this first lottery was meant for "social equity applicants", these applicants have to meet certain criteria to submit an application, the problem is, many big, national companies often use these applicants to flood the system to get an advantage before more licenses become available.

Stopping Big Companies from Gaming The System in Minnesota!

Minnesota was well aware of this practice, and built an application process to help weed some of these "straw applicants" out, according to CBS News, the Office of Cannabis Management rejected two-thirds of the applicants for failing to provide the required documents to prove they weren't trying to game the system.

In a statement, the Office of Cannabis Management says, "State statute sets high standards for applicants to successfully complete applications while also filtering out those with malicious intent. We remain committed to launching an equitable, sustainable, and responsible adult-use cannabis marketplace in Minnesota."

How Slow is Minnesota Rolling Out Weed?

Minnesota remains on pace to be one of the slowest states to roll out retail marijuana, on average it takes 12–14 moths, Minnesota is on track to take more than 18 months, and this could delay that even more.