Richfield reverses ban on THC edibles, opens door to THC beverages at city liquor stores

Richfield is unwinding its ban on the low-potency THC products legalized in 2022, opening the door to selling edible — or drinkable — cannabinoids in city liquor stores later this year.

This year's adult-use cannabis legalization bill cleared the way for those lower-potency products to be sold in liquor stores — including municipal stores. Richfield liquor stores could soon be among those with THC beverages on the shelves in coming months.

"With the [City Council's] guidance, we are planning to sell low-potency products," said Richfield City Manager Katie Rodriguez. She said the city-run stores will likely start with just a few products to test out demand.

Edible THC in Richfield isn't a done deal yet, with another council meeting to consider the issue set for Aug. 8. But Rodriguez said the council seems settled on repealing the ban it passed in October 2022.

Richfield is among several cities undoing edible THC bans passed in 2022. As of late May, eight of the 80 cities that passed those bans have repealed them, including neighboring Edina.

Richfield's City Council passed the edibles ban last year with a 4-1 vote. On Tuesday, the council voted 5-0 to move forward on repealing the ban.

Mayor Mary Supple said she's changed her mind on edible THC since last fall because the adult-use cannabis law the Legislature passed this year included more guardrails around sales of the low-potency products.

Supple wanted to see rules around checking IDs and keeping products behind a counter to prevent people under 21 from shoplifting THC products they are not allowed to buy.

"We wanted to make sure children were not getting ahold of edibles and make sure the products were for adults," Supple said.

The new rules in this year's legislation do more to keep people under 21 from buying edible THC, she said, so she feels comfortable removing a local ban.

The law that allows THC products to be sold at liquor stores is unique to Minnesota, according to the League of Minnesota Cities. The adult-use cannabis law will also eventually allow cities to run dispensaries.

Some nonmunicipal liquor stores, including a handful of Cub locations, started selling THC beverages this summer, but city liquor stores have moved a little slower.

Richfield will join a small but growing number of municipal liquor stores selling THC. Eden Prairie liquor stores started stocking THC beverages on July 21.

On the first few days of sales at Eden Prairie stores, the city liquor operations manager Jaime Urbina said THC sales exceeded his expectations, with more than $1,000 worth sold in the first two days.

Once it became legal for liquor stores to stock the drinks, Urbina said, it made sense to start carrying them. Customers had been asking, he said, and it was clear other liquor stores would carry THC beverages.

Urbina said he isn't sure yet how he will gauge the success of THC beverages because projections for sales are all over the place.

"Some people think it's going to be the new seltzer boom, other people think it's going to be a smaller subcategory," he said.

If the drinks outsell bar supplies — such as corkscrews and bottle openers, the smallest category for Eden Prairie liquor stores — Urbina said he will probably consider THC a win.

The new products are an untested market for the 190 Minnesota cities and towns that run municipal liquor stores, which totaled $36.5 million in profits in 2021, the most recent data available from the Office of the State Auditor. Richfield already has one of the largest municipal liquor operations in the state, with profits funding city parks.