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Minnesota cannabis agency ditches pre-approval license lottery after litigation • Iowa Capital Dispatch

Minnesota cannabis agency ditches pre-approval license lottery after litigation • Iowa Capital Dispatch

Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management announced it is canceling a planned lottery for special early-stage cannabis licenses meant to help disadvantaged entrepreneurs get a head start on the emerging legal marijuana market.

Cancellation comes after several people filed suit claiming they were illegally denied, and a Ramsey County judge suspended the lottery that was supposed to take place late last month.

The agency says the benefits of a pre-approval license – people could start their business earlier than those who receive a standard license – are nullified because of the court order, meaning businesses will not see the benefits of receiving a license early. .

The move could affect Minnesota’s cannabis supply because people who received early pre-approval licenses could have started growing before businesses that receive standard licenses.

“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize,” OCM Acting Director Charlene Briner said during a virtual news conference Wednesday. “We know today’s way forward does not provide a perfect solution, but I hope (applicants) will take comfort in seeing that there is a clear way forward.”

Social equity licenses are intended to prioritize business applications from people who have been harmed by marijuana prohibition in the past, as well as veterans and people living in high-poverty areas.

OCM accepted 648 applicants for the Social Equity Pre-Approval Lottery. A new social equity lottery will be held in May or June. A lottery for conventional licenses will follow.

Despite the ongoing litigation, Briner said state law says OCM can conduct a pre-approval lottery for welfare applicants, but it doesn’t have to.

“We believe that because it’s discretionary and not a statutory mandate, we have the ability to end the process today,” Briner said.

OCM in a court case alleged that several of the applicants were involved in a “straw applicant scheme” — which included applicants from Iowa — in an effort to give itself an advantage.

Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, and Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, the two lead authors of the bill legalizing adult cannabis, said in a statement that they are disappointed that OCM is ending the pre-approval lottery.

“The few bad actors who flooded the pre-approval pool with duplicate or misleading applications delayed the process for those who followed the rules, erasing the opportunity for social equity applicants to have an advantage,” Port and Stephenson said.

They added, “It was fundamental to the intent of this law that those most affected by prohibition have a first shot at building Minnesota’s legal cannabis industry. It’s frustrating that those who didn’t follow the rules disrupted that commitment.”

This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformerwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Minnesota Reformer maintains its editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican with questions: (email protected).