Minnesota Awards First Marijuana Event License Allowing On-Site Sales And Use At Festival With Killer Mike, Warren G And Afroman

Minnesota officials have granted the state’s first-ever marijuana event
organizer license, allowing adults to buy and consume cannabis products
on-site at a festival this weekend. Artists famed for their embrace of
cannabis culture—including Killer Mike, Warren G and Afroman—are set to
preform at the event.

The state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) awarded the special license
to the Legacy Cup Festival last week, the organizers said in a press
release on Thursday. This comes about two years after adult-use
legalization was enacted in the state, with the first non-tribal marijuana
shops opening for sales to adults 21 and older last week.

Two dispensaries—Legacy Cannabis Duluth and Waabigwan Mashkiki—have been
approved to sell their marijuana products at the Legacy Cup event on
Saturday.

“The Legacy Cup is committed to organizing a safe event—this festival is
21+, no alcohol, no tobacco. Medics and security will be on site,” it said.
“All Lower- Potency Hemp Edible Products and Adult Use Cannabis products
sampled or sold at the Legacy Cup are required to be tested by a certified
lab and vendors are required to have labs available for the public to see.”

The sixth annual event will also feature professional skateboarders, a car
show, “ganja games” and more than 100 vendors.

“Legacy Cup continues to be a groundbreaking festival not only in Minnesota
but across the country,” the company added. “The vast majority of states
that have legalized recreational cannabis do not allow events to have
cannabis sales or consumption.”

In California, on-site sales and consumption at the state’s annual state
fair have become regular features of those events. New York in 2021 allowed
both on-site cannabis purchases and use, but it’s since remove the option
to consume at the event.

For Minnesotans not attending the Legacy Cup festival, adults now have the
alternative option of buying for a wide range of dispensaries since the
first non-tribal retailers started servicing those 21 and up.

While certain tribal governments across the state have been permitted to
sell marijuana on their reservations–and tribes have also agreements with
the governor to sell at retail locations outside of their territories–last
week marked the first time a non-tribal entity has been able to market
marijuana for adults.

Notably, Minnesota sits in a geographically unique position with respect to
cannabis, as it’s surrounded by states that maintain prohibition. Many of
the newly authorized retailers sit within driving distance of borders with
those jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s House of Representatives recently circulated a poll
at this year’s State Fair that asked attendees about the idea of allowing
localities to enact bans on marijuana businesses within their borders. Most
respondents who have an opinion on the issue agree with the policy, despite
it not currently being a part of the state’s cannabis laws.


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Ahead of the enactment of legalization in Minnesota, lawmakers’ separate
State Fair polls found majority support for the reform.

The governor has also selected a top cannabis regulator for the state who
will oversee the adult-use market rollout. And while there may be some
jurisdictions in favor of a local control option for licensees, over a
dozen Minnesota cities have signaled interest in government-run cannabis
retailers.

In June, OCM issued the state’s first recreational marijuana license for a
cultivation microbusiness.

OCM said at the time that it’s taking further steps to build up in the
industry and create opportunities to entrepreneurs, including opening a new
licensing window for cannabis testing facilities, accepting the first
applications for marijuana event licenses and verifying more social equity
status requests.

Separately, after Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to end the
criminalization of bong water containing trace amount of drugs, the
governor signed the measure into law in May.

The change addresses an existing policy that had allowed law enforcement to
treat quantities of bong water greater than four ounces as equivalent to
the pure, uncut version of whatever drug the device was used to consume.

In April, meanwhile, state officials moved to delay a separate drug
reform—the opening of safe drug consumption sites, meant to allow people to
use drugs in a safer, supervised setting.

“More work needs to be done on a state and federal level before these
services can be implemented in a way that is safe for participants and Harm
Reduction programs,” a representative for the Department of Human Services
(DHS) Behavioral Health Administration said at the time.

In March, lawmakers also filed legislation that would create a system to
allow legal access to psilocybin for medical purposes. That came just days
after the introduction of a separate bill that would legalize personal
psilocybin use and possession among adults.

*Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.*

The post Minnesota Awards First Marijuana Event License Allowing On-Site
Sales And Use At Festival With Killer Mike, Warren G And Afroman appeared
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