THC seltzers can now be sold on draft in Minnesota taprooms: Minnesota is now the first state to explicitly allow taprooms to offer THC beverages on draft like any other craft brewery offering, Zoë Jackson reports. A law went into effect July 1 that allows hemp-derived THC beverages on draft, expanding options for patrons and brewers beyond the aluminum cans that have become increasingly popular in the last two years. Read more.
More than 4,000 Minnesotans start preapproval process for social equity license lottery: The window for social equity applicants to have their qualifications verified by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) closed Wednesday. OCM spokesman Josh Collins said 4,173 people began the process. We won't know how many of those potential applicants qualified for social equity status until a vendor completes its work later this month.
With that window closed, another is set to open. The OCM will begin accepting applications July 24 for preapproval for a limited number of social equity business licenses that will be awarded in a lottery later this summer. Only applicants who have had their social equity status verified are eligible for the lottery. The window to apply for preapproval closes Aug. 12. Resources for social equity applicants can be found on the OCM website.
Patients now need only a doctor’s OK to get medical cannabis in Minnesota: Minnesota's list of conditions that qualify for medical cannabis became largely irrelevant July 1, when revised state law allowed patients to gain access simply if their doctors recommend it, Jeremy Olson reports. Minnesotans will no longer petition to add new conditions — an annual, adversarial process that forced the state's health commissioner to pick between patients who badly wanted cannabis and law enforcement officials and doctors who worried about unintended consequences. People still will be able to petition for new consumption methods, though, such as gummy and smokable forms that were added in recent years. This year's legislative expansion also allowed people to grow up to eight marijuana plants if a doctor has recommended medical cannabis for them, or if they are caregivers of people certified for cannabis. Read more.
Hemp fest coming to Lake Mille Lacs next month: Minnesota cannabis event organizers Canna Connect have announced the Garrison Hemp Festival will be held Aug. 10 at Jake Regan Park in Garrison, just a short distance from the shores of Lake Mille Lacs. The day kicks off at 8 a.m. with a hemp pancake breakfast, while the festival gets underway at 10 a.m. with vendors, educational sessions, music and designated consumption areas. The event is free to the public. Tickets and more info here.
Minnesota raises $10M in tax revenue from hemp-derived THC products: “Nearly a year into tax collections on Minnesota’s new lower-potency hemp industry shows that the sale of hemp edibles, beverages and other products is a $130 million business, at least. According to numbers compiled by the state Department of Revenue, the 10% tax on cannabis product sales raised $1,217,450 in May from 1,873 tax paying businesses. Over the 11 months that the tax has been collected, the state took in $10,022,635 with average collections of a little more than $900,000 per month. But tax collections have been well over $1 million a month this year which would provide annual sales in the $130 million range,” MinnPost’s Peter Callaghan reports. Read more.
Keith Ellison asks judge to dismiss lawsuit claiming Minnesota Constitution allows homegrowers to sell their weed: “Minnesota’s attorney general has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from four cannabis home-growers who claim the state constitution allows growers to sell their own crops without a license. … A hearing is set for July 22 on the motion to dismiss, but the case is likely to eventually reach the state Supreme Court,” Callaghan reports for MinnPost. Read more.
How legalization is affecting my weed dealer: “[T]his local ganjier (yes, the weed version of a sommelier) is working with a setup that’s neither a corner dispensary nor your local smoke shop, but a secret third thing: a private, independent, woman-owned business in Minneapolis,” writes Zachary Zalman Green for Racket. Read more.
