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The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management is ending the license preapproval process and "moving forward with opening a standard licensing cycle" with a lottery tentatively scheduled for May or June 2025. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard joins All Day to discuss the latest developments.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) –The State of Minnesota will begin accepting applications for cannabis business licenses later this month.
What we know:
The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management will begin accepting license applications on Feb. 18 through March 14.
Both social equity and general applications will be accepted for an array of license types, including: Microbusiness, Mezzobusiness, Cultivator, Manufacturer, Retailer, Wholesaler, Transporter, Testing facility, Delivery service, and Medical cannabis combination business.
There are caps on some of the licenses, including mezzobusiness (100 licenses allowed), cultivators (50 licenses allowed), manufacturers (24 licenses), and retailers (150 licenses).
The state says half of the capped licenses will be split half-and-half between social equity applicants and general applicants.
What we don’t know:
It's still not clear exactly when dispensaries in Minnesota will be up and running.
Timeline:
The Office of Cannabis Management expects to hold lotteries for social equity and general licenses in May or June.
Licenses are expected to be issued sometime late this year. Cannabis sales are currently only allowed on tribal lands.
There have been delays in the cannabis roll-out, including a judge ordering the state to delay its social equity lottery after a challenge which ultimately led to the lottery being canceled.
Initially, when the cannabis legalization was introduced in January 2023, lawmakers expected a legal marketplace for marijuana to be in place within a matter of months.
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