Officials with the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) say the launch of the state’s adult-use cannabis industry was delayed at least several months after officials were forced to postpone — and ultimately decided to abandon — an early licensing lottery for social equity applicants, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
The social equity lottery was designed to pre-approve entrepreneurs so they could pursue investment, real estate, and zoning approval ahead of the market’s 2025 launch. The process, however, was delayed last month due to lawsuits filed by applicants who said they had been unfairly denied, which prompted a judge’s order to stay the lottery.
Now, officials have announced the state is abandoning the early licensing process entirely, the report said, and will instead open general cannabis license applications in mid-February, with separate lotteries planned in May or June for both social equity applicants and general applicants.
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said in the report.
“A protracted period of uncertainty is an unacceptable outcome that could diminish the opportunity for social equity applicants to succeed