Politics
Minnesota Marijuana Regulators Release New Draft Rules For The Legal Cannabis Industry
Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) unveiled new draft marijuana rules on Wednesday as part of preparations for next year’s formal launch of the newly legal industry.
Longtime cannabis reformer Kurtis Hanna, for one, sees the approach as more reasonable than what’s been rolled out so far in many other states.
“It is exciting to see OCM not simply duplicate the overly draconian rules used in some of the states which were early adopters of cannabis legalization,” Hanna told Marijuana Moment. “The cannabis purchasing experience in Minnesota will feel much more like a liquor store purchase than in other states.”
One example he pointed to in the new draft rules is that retailers will not be required to have a separate, restricted area where customers’ IDs are checked before they can enter a store. Rules for delivery drivers are also comparatively permissive, with drivers allowed to carry up to $3,000 worth of products to multiple delivery locations on a single trip.
While drive-thru cannabis purchases aren’t allowed under the draft rules, they appear to permit curbside pickup of orders made in advance, said Hanna, who works for the government relations and PR firm Blunt Strategies.
Minnesota’s cannabis laws make reference to nearly 70 different rules to be promulgated by OCM regulators, Hanna noted—considerably more than most other states. Not only does that take time, but it also introduces the possibility for significant changes to the industry even after laws themselves are hammered out.
“The encouraging thing just seems to be…that we’re not necessarily mimicking the overly regulatory, heavy-handed approach to regulating this industry” that’s been seen in some other states, Hanna said.
“Maybe other states will see Minnesota’s rules as a sign that they should go back and look into whether they should be reducing some of the restrictions in their own state laws,” he added.
Hanna credited OCM’s months of outreach to stakeholders and Minnesotans more generally. “They incorporated a lot of feedback that they solicited from the public,” he said.
Over the past year or so, OCM has released multiple public surveys on issues such as packaging and track-and-trace plans; cultivation, processing and manufacturing; pesticides, fertilizers and environmental controls; and retail cannabis operations and sanitary standards, among others.
OCM has previously said it’s encouraging public feedback “to ensure the rulemaking process is accessible to the widest possible range of community members, advocates, and partners who want to help shape how the rules are drafted.”
The new draft rules—released as an 111-page document on Wednesday—aren’t yet final. With the release comes a 30-day public comment window, which is followed by an opportunity for regulators to make adjustments.
“They can decide to make edits based on the informal feedback that they get in the next 30 days,” Hanna explained, “and then it will proceed to the formal rulemaking, which does include a formal comment period.”
In other words, there’s still time to comment on the emerging proposal.
Shortly after the draft’s release, OCM sent out a link to a feedback form for people to weigh in on the plan. It will remain open through August 30.
“This is not the official rules package, but rather a first draft in advance of the public comment period expected later this year,” OCM said in the email. “The first draft is based on substantial input OCM has received through surveys, meetings, and conversations that took place since last fall as well as OCM’s review of Minnesota’s cannabis statute and cannabis rules in other states.”
“While these draft rules may be informative for potential operators and consumers,” the office added, “they may change as OCM goes through the formal rulemaking process.”
OCM’s general counsel, Eric Taubel, announced the release of the new draft rules at a legal conference Wednesday morning, according to local reporter Peter Callaghan of MinnPost, who described the news as “kind of a big deal in the path toward launch of market.”
MN Office of Cannabis Management general counsel Eric Taubel tells a CLE conference this morning that first draft cannabis rules will be posted later today.
Kind of a big deal in path toward launch of market.— Peter Callaghan (@CallaghanPeter) July 31, 2024
In a separate email on Wednesday, OCM called the release of the draft rules “another milestone among many achieved and more to come in our work to ensure a safe, equitable, and sustainable cannabis industry that will benefit Minnesotans across the state.”
Later this year, the office will publish a notice of intent to adopt rules in the State Register. That will begin the formal comment period in the rulemaking process.
Final rules for the new industry aren’t expected to be formally adopted until spring 2025.
Meanwhile, officials last week finally opened the state’s marijuana business license application window. The application window runs until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, August 12. Equity applicants will have an “early mover advantage,” OCM has said.
Hanna noted that the engagement by state officials marks a sea change since the prohibition era.
“I’m familiar with the days when we were trying to pass medical cannabis in Minnesota, and the commissioner of the Department of Health was going around to every committee to stop the bill, was saying, ‘Don’t pass this bill. It sucks. We don’t want cannabis here,'” he recalled. “So it really does seem to be complete shift that has occurred in our state, and I’m here for it.”
In the interim, adults 21 and older can already legally use, possess and grow marijuana for personal use. In August, Gov. Tim Walz (D), who is currently being considered as a vice presidential running mate for Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket, clarified that homegrown cannabis cannot be sold commercially.
Minnesota’s cannabis law also allows tribes within the state to open marijuana businesses before the state begins licensing traditional retailers, and some tribal governments have already entered the legal market. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, for example, opened its medical dispensaries to adult consumers in August and announced plans to launch a mobile retail vehicle to sell marijuana at locations across the state.
The White Earth Nation tribe also launched an adult-use cannabis shop, with its governing council voting to authorize marijuana sales in July. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has also moved to legalize.
Following legalization, minor violations of possession or home cultivation limits can result in petty misdemeanors, charges some advocates have said should include state-provided legal representation.
Even before the governor signed the reform bill, the state launched a website that serves as a hub for information about the new law. Officials have also already started soliciting vendors to help build a licensing system for recreational marijuana businesses.
In September OCM head Erin DuPree, a cannabis industry consultant whom the governor picked to lead the state agency, stepped down after one day of work following a Star Tribune report that her hemp shop allegedly sold illegal products. Lab results reportedly showed elevated THC levels and the presence of banned synthetic ingredients.
That same month, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the odor of marijuana, on its own, does not establish probable cause for police officers to search a vehicle.
Aside from OCM, another body created by Minnesota’s marijuana law is the Cannabis Expungement Board, which will facilitate record sealing for people with eligible marijuana convictions on their records. The review process for eligible cases began in August.
As for business activity within the state’s already-legal hemp industry, the first year of new tax collections on hemp activity brought in nearly $10 million in state revenue. Some, however, believe that number fails to capture hemp sector’s true scope.
Read the newly released Minnesota draft cannabis rules below:
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Kurtis Hanna’s name.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
