Cannabis Legalization Revenues in Minnesota Could Reach $300M

Adult-use cannabis legalization in Minnesota could bring in $300 million in taxes for the state over five years on sales of $1.12 billion, according to a MinnPost report. The estimate, by Sal Barnes of the Marijuana Policy Group during last week’s CannConMN Symposium, also suggests that the industry would create 20,000 direct and indirect jobs statewide.

During his keynote remarks, Barnes estimated that there are 115,000 daily cannabis users in Minnesota and cannabis “follows the 80-20 rule” and “20 percent of the consumers produce 80 percent of the market.”

According to the report, about 7.9 percent of Minnesotans say they use cannabis at least once a month – which is below the 9.5 percent national average and the 20 percent post-legalization rate in Colorado. Barnes said that is a difference of 341,000 consumers in Minnesota and 860,000 in Colorado as both states have a near-equal population of adults 21-and-older.

“If you guys are going to create a $1.12 billion adult-use market, the number one thing you can do is have the appropriate amount of licenses for cultivation, manufacturing and retail. There is a delicate balance … on one side is Oregon with unlimited amount of licenses and on the other side is Colorado, where they try to parse out the types of licenses. You have to make it competitive enough to compete with — and preferably end — illegal black markets, but not so uncontained that there is too much supply and no profits for businesses.” – Barnes, during his CannConMN keynote remarks, via MinnPost

At the conference, Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D) predicted that House Democrats would introduce a bill for the 2020 session and predicted that while it would pass the Democratically-controlled House it would likely falter in the Republican-controlled Senate.

A legalization bill was introduced in the state Senate last year but did not make it out of committee.