Minnesota City Launches Government-Branded Cannabis Gummy—And It Wants Residents To Pick The Product’s Name

The Minnesota city of Eden Prairie is looking for suggestions from
residents on what to name a new, government-branded cannabis gummy product
that will be sold at municipal liquor stores.

In a post this week, officials at Eden Prairie Liquor asked members of the
public to submit their “best, brightest or weirdest name idea” for the
berry-flavored, THC-infused gummies.

“This isn’t just any gummy. It’s OUR gummy,” the announcement says. “It
deserves a name as bold, vibrant and unforgettable as the Eden Prairie
community itself.”

Submissions will be accepted through the end of July 29, the agency said.
Three top entries will be posted to Eden Prairie Liquor’s Facebook page for
the community to vote on. Voting will take place the week of August 4, with
a winner set to be picked at 4 p.m. on August 8.

The winning name will be printed on the product package, and whoever
submitted it will also receive a free package of the gummies.

“So come on, Eden Prairie,” the post says. “NAME! THAT! GUMMY!”

Per the rules of the contest, participants must be 21 or older and a
resident of Eden Prairie, and each person can enter only once.

There are also some restrictions around content, with names “that include
profanity or other language deemed inappropriate by Eden Prairie Liquor” as
well as “politically inspired names” off limits. Participants also can’t
submit their own names as suggestions.

Eden Prairie Liquor further says it reserves the right to modify name
submissions.

As for the gummy products themselves, the city says they’ll be
berry-flavored and contain 5 milligrams of THC and 30 mg of cannabinol
(CBN) apiece, with 10 edibles per package. The products are “crafted
specifically for sleep,” according to a description, which may explain the
relatively high CBN content.

While certain hemp-derived THC products are already available in the state,
Minnesota’s adult-use marijuana market is also preparing to launch. Last
month, state officials at the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced
that they’d issued the state’s first recreational marijuana business
license following the enactment of legalization in 2023.

“With our first licensed cultivator now able to begin growing plants, and
more than 600 businesses within the final steps of completing their
applications and securing approvals from local governments, we are now
seeing the first pieces of Minnesota’s adult-use market fall into place,”
OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel said in a press release at the time.

OCM said 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.

For cannabis testing facilities, licensing applications will open on August
1. To prevent delays, lawmakers enacted a policy change to the process that
also allows such licenses to be issued as applicants are awaiting
accreditation from the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Applications for cannabis event organizer licenses will also start being
accepted on August 1.

A Native American tribe, meanwhile, recently opened the state’s first-ever
legal recreational marijuana store outside of a reservation. The new shop,
in Moorhead, will be followed by another location in St. Cloud that will
also be operated by the White Earth Nation.

The launch of the new shop comes after Walz signed of a landmark agreement
to allow the tribe to operate up to eight retail marijuana stores across
the state.

Separately, shortly after state lawmakers passed a bill to end the
criminalization of bong water containing trace amount of drugs, Gov. Tim
Walz (DFL) 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.

Minnesota’s 2023 cannabis legalization law allows tribes within the state
to open marijuana businesses before state licensing of businesses begins.
Following the law’s enactment, a number of tribal governments, including White
Earth Nation, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and the Leech Lake Band
of Ojibwe, made early moves to enter the market.

At least 13 cities and counties have also applied for licenses to operate
their own marijuana stores. The city of Anoka, for one, recently broke
ground on a new $2.7 million facility, though the city’s liquor and
cannabis operations manager said this spring that they’re still waiting on
final approval from OCM.

Other municipalities seeking licenses to run their own dispensaries include
St. Joseph and Osseo, which were reportedly waiting to secure licenses
before breaking ground on the facilities.

By law, Minnesota allows local governments to limit the number of retailers
in their jurisdictions, though it requires leaders to allow at least one
marijuana store for every 12,500 residents.

Separately in Minnesota, a state appeals court is set to decide whether
state officials have the authority to prosecute tribal members for cannabis
crimes committed on tribal land. The case centers on a White Earth citizen
who allegedly sold cannabis from his tobacco store on reservation land in
Mahnomen.

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 Pexels.*

The post Minnesota City Launches Government-Branded Cannabis Gummy—And It
Wants Residents To Pick The Product’s Name appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.