Two-thirds of Minnesota social equity cannabis license applicants were denied for inadequate documentation with the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) claiming that a lot of the rejected applicants are “zone flooders or predatory applicants or who do not meet the letter of the law around ownership requirements and expectations,” according to a MinnPost report.
The denials affect about 1,200 of the 1,817 social equity applications. OCM had previously verified 2,307 individuals as social equity-qualified applicants, mostly military veterans and people with previous cannabis-related convictions. About 640 of the applicants will be included in the license lottery, which is scheduled for the week of December 2.
Charlene Briner, the interim director of the Office of Cannabis Management, told MinnPost that the state “gave the answers to the test ahead of time” by detailing license requirements and issuing how-to guides.
“While the disappointment is understandable, the basic proxy for readiness is your ability to submit a successful application. … We’ve always known this is a highly complex regulated space, and we heard concerns about readiness so the people who get into the lottery are qualified.” — Briner to MinnPost<span