Minnesota

As Minnesota’s adult-use cannabis regulations come together, lawmakers are considering giving some cannabis cultivators an early start to avoid potential delays to the state’s cannabis program.

Minnesota House lawmakers last week passed social equity cannabis licensing provisions and other adjustments to the state’s upcoming adult-use cannabis program.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Records indicated that the state will be ready to expunge more than 60,000 misdemeanor cannabis convictions in May under last year’s adult-use legalization law.

A Minnesota new proposal would double the cannabis home grow limits from 8 to 16 plants for registered medical cannabis patients and also allow patients to designate caregivers to grow for them.

As the Minnesota cannabis industry awaits a possible launch in 2025, officials have warned hemp product retailers that inspectors will begin examining their hemp flower products to make sure they do not exceed the 0.3% delta-9 THC potency limits.

In a recent report prefacing the state’s upcoming adult-use cannabis market, Minnesota officials said they will need to license at least 381 cannabis dispensaries to satisfy the state’s legalization law.

Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management has indicated that regulators anticipate launching the state’s adult-use cannabis industry in 2025.

The Lower Sioux Indian Community in Minnesota is constructing a vertically integrated campus for the manufacturing of hempcrete. The campus, once complete, will be the first facility of its kind in the U.S.

Minnesota’s Office of Traffic Safety is pilot-testing a saliva-based roadside cannabis impairment test; the pilot program will be for data-gathering purposes only, meaning samples will be given voluntarily with no risk of arrest or driver’s license suspension.

The University of Minnesota School of Public Health announced the launch of its Cannabis Research Center, which will assess the impact of adult-use legalization and help inform future cannabis policies.

A recent study found that the majority of Minnesota medical cannabis patients are enrolled in the program for intractable pain, but older and younger adults received “significant differences in dosages.”

Minnesota-based HWY35 was approved for a $10 million loan from the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development to convert a former lumber mill in Grand Rapids into an indoor cannabis cultivation site.

Officials in Cook County, Minnesota are considering opening a municipally owned cannabis dispensary that would “create a new revenue stream for county government.” The county already operates a municipal liquor store and the dispensary arrangement would be similar.

Minnesota’s head of Office Cannabis Management stepped down on Friday, one day after she was appointed to the position, following reports that her hemp company sold products exceeding the state’s allowable THC levels and had tens of thousands of dollars in tax liens.

Minnesota’s new head of the Office of Cannabis Management, Erin DuPree, is the founder, vice president of sales and operations, and head of research and development at Loonacy Cannabis Co.

The Minnesota Supreme Court this week affirmed that cannabis odor is not enough reason for police to conduct a warrantless vehicle search.

While adult-use cannabis products are still technically unavailable in Minnesota, the state collected nearly $600,000 in tax revenues last month from THC-infused gummies and drinks (derived from hemp).

Minnesota’s St. Cloud State University is partnering with cannabis education company Green Flower to offer a certificate-based cannabis education program.

Former Minnesota Gov. and retired pro wrestler Jesse Ventura said recently he is interested in launching a cannabis brand as “the first major politician in America who puts his likeness, face and everything behind cannabis.”

Minnesota’s cannabis legalization law took effect today, August 1, making it the 23rd state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis for adults.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) is set to issue an executive order today deprioritizing the enforcement of laws related to naturally-occurring psychedelics like magic mushrooms or ayahuasca.

NativeCare, a medical cannabis dispensary in the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota, announced plans to begin selling adult-use cannabis starting August 1, the first day that cannabis will be legal in the state.