Minnesota Judge Orders State to Hold Early Lottery for Social Equity Cannabis Licenses

A Minnesota judge ruled on Friday that state officials must hold a cannabis equity pre-licensing lottery after the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) abandoned the process late last year amid legal challenges, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.

Written into the state’s cannabis legalization law, he pre-licensing lottery was designed to give disadvantaged operators an early start in the industry. But the early lottery was delayed last November due to lawsuits filed by applicants whose applications were denied. Ultimately, OCM officials opted to hold a social equity lottery alongside the state’s general licensing lottery, and the agency started accepting applications for the general licensing period in February.

But Ramsey County Judge Stephen Smith ruled that officials are bound by the law to hold the pre-licensing lottery.

“Canceling the lottery effectively casts aside the significant time and investment 648 qualified applicants put into shoring up their capacity to hit the ground running as a licensee.” — Smith, in the order

OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel told the Star Tribune in a statement that after last week’s ruling, regulators would “seek dismissal of the case on an expedited basis” and that “OCM expects to begin issuing licenses to qualified social equity applicants in a matter of weeks.”

“There are currently more than a thousand qualified applicants for social equity licenses who are first in line to receive business licenses, and OCM has been clear since November that any delay to the lottery would prove fatal to the preapproval process. At this stage, additional litigation and delays serve no one. OCM looks forward to continuing its work to get licenses out the door and launching the market as soon as possible.”

The state has received more than 3,500 cannabis business applications, and the first cannabis licensing lotteries are expected in May or June, the report said.