Minnesota's new cannabis law still a year away from full implementation

Unexpected roadblocks have hampered the implementation of Minnesota's new recreational marijuana law, and state officials expect it will take at least another year of work before all of its provisions take effect.

Nearly eight months after Gov. Tim Walz signed the marijuana bill into law, state officials are still searching for a director to lead the Office of Cannabis Management. The first hire resigned last year and a rumored replacement left state government; a director likely won't be in place until mid-February at the earliest.

On top of that, "technical and programmatic changes" have postponed the promised automatic expungement of all marijuana-related petty misdemeanor and misdemeanor convictions in Minnesota. Those expungements aren't expected until August.

The Cannabis Expungement Board, which will consider the expungement of gross misdemeanor and felony convictions, currently has two openings yet to be filled by Walz.

Meanwhile, state officials have been vague about exactly when retail sales of recreational cannabis will begin, but predict it will be sometime early next year. Preliminary cannabis industry rules are expected to be published at the end of the year, followed by a 30-day public comment period. Rules are expected to be adopted in spring 2025.

Walz last fall appointed business consultant Erin DuPree to oversee the cannabis office, but she resigned the next day when the Star Tribune reported that her business sold hemp edibles that did not comply with state limits on THC, the psychoactive ingredient in hemp and marijuana that intoxicates users.

The governor has stated he wants the next appointee to have regulatory experience. The office has been led by state government veteran Charlene Briner on an interim basis, but her contract expires Feb. 15. The state has not reopened the application process for the job, and Walz spokeswoman Claire Lancaster declined to say when a director might be hired.

Much of the slow-churn path to legalization isn't at odds with what state policymakers predicted last year when legalization was making its way through the Legislature, said Kurtis Hanna, a lobbyist with the cannabis consulting firm Blunt Strategies.

State governments typically implement marijuana expungement laws slowly because they're not a top priority, said Frances Trousdale, a policy associate with Last Prisoner Project, a Denver-based marijuana reform group,

"Unfortunately, it's a pretty standard tale of a decent bill that never gets implemented," Trousdale said. "We see a lot of it."

In its scorecard of states with the best marijuana expungement laws, the Last Prisoner Project recently ranked Minnesota at the top of the list with California, because Minnesota's law takes into consideration felony-level marijuana convictions for expungement.

But the report also notes that expungements for higher-level marijuana convictions in Minnesota "require arduous reviews by a specially appointed board."

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is in charge of the automatic expungements, says on its website that the "overall technical infrastructure needs" of carrying it out are delaying the process.

"They claim it's software-related, which is frustrating as hell," Hanna said.

The BCA website says that more than a dozen staffers and contractors are analyzing how to identify previous marijuana records, which of the records are eligible for expungement and how to disseminate information to people with convictions. A BCA spokesperson declined to comment on the process.

The Office of Cannabis Management is tasked with organizing and regulating the state's new marijuana industry, but it needs to draft regulations before a marijuana dispensary can sell to customers. That includes everything from applications for marijuana business licenses to rules on how the products are packaged and labeled.

The cannabis office is collecting public input via online surveys through late February on the rulemaking process. The next surveys will focus on licensing and social equity considerations for businesses, laboratory standards for marijuana products and the medical cannabis and patient registry program. Links to those surveys will be posted at cannabis.mn.gov/rulemaking.html.

Merone Melekin, who works in outreach and engagement for the cannabis office, said she has held around 50 public meetings since stepping into her role last August and has received a lot of feedback about the equity promises in the legislation, including how the agency will measure candidates applying for business licenses to produce marijuana products or operate a dispensary.

Under the law, entrepreneurs applying for a marijuana business license may be considered social equity applicants if they live in low-income communities, have been previously convicted of a marijuana offense or are veterans who were discharged because of a marijuana offense, among other criteria. Those factors will add weight in determining whether an applicant receives a license.

Melekin said she's also received feedback from people in underprivileged communities who want nothing to do with marijuana.

"Some communities want to talk more about the public health side," she said.

About the partnership

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for a free newsletter to receive Sahan's stories in your inbox.