Minnesota Officials Award State’s First Marijuana Business License

Minnesota officials have issued the state’s first recreational marijuana
business license following the enactment of legalization in 2023.

The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced on Wednesday that it has
issued the license to Herb Quest, LLC, a cultivation microbusiness.

“Issuing the first business license is a major milestone for the office,”
OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel said in a press release.

“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,”
he said.

Additionally, 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).

“ISO accreditation is a lengthy process, so we wanted to provide a shorter
runway for labs who wish to enter Minnesota’s cannabis market in such an
essential way while also helping other cannabis business owners get up and
running with safe, tested products,” Max Zappia, OCM’s chief regulatory
officer, said. “Having testing facilities with capacity is essential to our
mission to establish an equitable cannabis industry that prioritizes public
health and safety, consumer confidence, and market integrity.”

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

“Pursuant to Minnesota law, cannabis events must be limited to ages 21 and
older and may not include the sale or consumption of alcohol,” regulators
said. “Cannabis events may feature the on-site sale and use of adult-use
cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer
products.”

Unlike other license types, the event organizer license is temporary and
people will need to apply for new ones per event.

Meanwhile, shortly after Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to end the
criminalization of bong water containing trace amount of drugs, Gov. Tim
Walz (DFL) has signed the measure into law late last month.

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.

Also in Minnesota, a Native American tribe last month opened the state’s
first-ever legal recreational marijuana store outside of a reservation. The
new shop, in Moorhead, will be followed next month 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
last month to allow the tribe to operate up to eight retail marijuana stores across
the state.

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.

Separately, as the state’s adult-use cannabis market gets up and running,
more than a dozen cities and counties are seeking to open their own
government-run stores.

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

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


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

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.

Alaska Activists Launch Campaign To Put Psychedelics Legalization Measure
On 2026 Ballot

*Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.*

The post Minnesota Officials Award State’s First Marijuana Business License
appeared first on Marijuana Moment.