Last week, Gov. Tim Walz signed legislation making Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana. A product of months of intense debate, all of the effects of the complex 320-page law will likely take years to be felt.
While retail sales aren’t likely to begin until 2025, Minnesotans will have the opportunity to grow their own marijuana starting Aug. 1. As of that date, home growers will be able to grow up to eight plants, so long as no more than four are flowering and mature at any one time.
Marijuana plants grow at LifeLine Labs in Cottage Grove. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
Starting then, Minnesotans will also be permitted to possess two pounds of cannabis, and to transport at least two ounces of cannabis flower. However, they’ll only be able to consume those products at a private residence or on private property for now.
To oversee implementation, the legislation creates a new Office of Cannabis Management. Through the office, 15 types of licenses will be issued, covering marijuana-related businesses large and small, from retailers to growers to manufacturers to transporters.
Local economic impact
For local businesses, the new law will bring opportunities and challenges. Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism President Brad Meier said that some businesses are nervous that the new law could result in employees working under the influence of cannabis.
“People are unsure of how this is going to work, and how they’re going to be able to know if employees are impaired or not,” he said. “If an employee is behind the wheel of a vehicle or at a manufacturing machine, there’s a greater concern.”
Under the law, employers can bar employees from working or operating a company vehicle or machinery while under the influence of cannabis products, and if they believe such a policy has been violated, may request an employee to undergo cannabis testing.
On the other side, cannabis legalization will provide significant opportunities for the region’s already thriving CBD businesses and for the customers who they serve, including many currently enrolled in the state’s decade-old medical marijuana program.
Brittany Brown, of St. Peter’s Healing Harvest, said that she expects the new program will improve consumer safety by replacing the illicit market with one that is well regulated and offers robust competition and a wide array of choices for customers.
Brown expressed frustration with the negative stereotypes long associated with cannabis, saying that many of her customers have been able to deal with chronic pain, get a better night’s sleep, and break their addictions to alcohol or painkillers.
Lance Perkins, owner and grower at Owatonna’s Southern Sota Wellness, agreed.
“This will allow access to a lot more individuals who may have felt like it would benefit them,” he said.
Stores like Southern Sota Wellness in Owatonna will soon be able to offer a larger number of marijuana-based products to consumers. (File photo/southernminn.com)
Since its establishment a decade ago, Minnesota’s medical cannabis program has been controlled by just two companies. Even as the number of patients in the program has dramatically increased, the lack of competition has helped to keep prices high.
The new law will open the medical cannabis program up to other companies once regulatory authority moves to the Office of Cannabis Management in 2025. Medical marijuana products will be exempt from the 10% tax, and the $200 enrollment fee will be dropped starting July 1.
Local control
Though local governments will be banned from prohibiting cannabis retailers from setting up shop, they’ll have significant authority to regulate where cannabis businesses can set up shop and when they can operate through zoning and land use laws.
Under the bill, the Office of Cannabis Management will be prohibited from issuing a cannabis license to a business not in compliance with local ordinances. Cities will be able to implement reasonable limits on cannabis retailers, such as barring them from operating within 1,000 feet of a school or 500 feet of a daycare. Outside of city limits, counties would have such authority.
A focus on keeping marijuana out of the hands of youth is also seen in the strict restrictions the bill puts on advertising. Cannabis retailers will be prohibited from advertising in any medium where 30% or more of the expected audience would be under 21.
Nicollet County Attorney Michelle Zehnder Fischer said that a public education campaign about the health risks posed by marijuana, especially its impacts on youth, is much needed. She warned that legalization would likely make it easier for young people to access marijuana.
“This will increase the use of cannabis products among youth,” she said. “There are significant concerns about the impact of marijuana use on health.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marijuana use by adolescents can permanently affect thinking, memory and learning. It has also been tied to increased occurrence of mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression. Other studies have indicated the opposite, with marijuana often used as a form of treatment for both physical and mental health.
The Minnesota legislation also includes a provision allowing local governments to limit the number of licensed cannabis retailers to no more than one per 12,500 people. If a county has met the threshold, no cities or townships within it will need to allow additional cannabis retailers.
By declining additional marijuana businesses, however, a local municipality could deprive itself of revenue sharing income under the legislation. Twenty percent of revenues produced by the 10% tax on all cannabis products will go to local government, and of that share, 90% will be allocated proportionally based on the number of cannabis businesses located in each city or county.
While they put together a set of zoning and regulatory restrictions on cannabis businesses, local governments can pass an interim ordinance regulating, restricting or even prohibiting the operation of a cannabis business through the end of 2024.
Enforcement
On the enforcement side, the state has provided $15 million to the Office of Traffic Safety to train drug recognition evaluators. The 30 year old program will receive a massive boost of funding because there is not yet a reliable roadside test to determine marijuana intoxication.
Faribault Police Chief John Sherwin said that the city already has an officer on staff who is a Certified Drug Recognition Expert, and all of the city’s officers are trained in DWI enforcement and at least minimal recognition of drugged driving.
Once an officer finds probable cause that a driver is under the influence of marijuana, Sherwin said that they can request a blood or urine sample, just as with a traditional DUI. The state will also invest $2.5 million on a roadside saliva test pilot project.
As Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, has noted, the legalization of marijuana could also force some drug sniffing dogs into a premature retirement. If a dog has been trained to treat marijuana as an illicit substance, its drug detection abilities would no longer be able to determine probable cause of drug possession.
Nicollet County Sheriff Dave Lange said that his Department has already been preparing for that by not training drug sniffing dogs to detect marijuana in recent years. However, he said that some older dogs could end up out of work.
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