St. Louis County approves ‘conservative’ cannabis ordinance, allowing room to adjust in the future

DULUTH – The St. Louis County Board approved its cannabis ordinance during Tuesday’s meeting at the courthouse, with regulations in place for proximity to schools, number of potential retail spots and where it cannot be used publicly.

The ordinance, which goes in effect Jan. 1, covers the areas within this vast swath of northeastern Minnesota where St. Louis County is the planning and zoning authority. According to the ordinance, no retail businesses can set up within 1,000 feet of a school or 500 feet from a licensed daycare, residential treatment facility or public park. The county must approve registrations for one retailer per 12,500 residents. This works out to three businesses in areas where St. Louis County, rather than a city like Duluth, is the zoning authority.

Cannabis is banned in public parks, on government land, and in any indoor spaces where smoking is banned.

Of the seven commissioners, only Ashley Grimm, whose district is in the western part of Duluth, opposed it. Among her reasons: With a limit of three retail spaces, marijuana won’t be accessible for some people, and that number benefits larger corporations rather than “smaller shops that tend to be less predatory.”

“The largest concern for me,” she said during the meeting, “is the increase in pretextual stops that this could give people — that this could be used for when people are using marijuana in really isolated places, even.”

She cited the county’s definition of “public place,” which includes nearly a million acres of tax-forfeited land.

“It includes places where you would not be a public health concern to anyone,” Grimm said. “I want to make sure that we’re not starting to criminalize behavior that’s widely popularly considered non-criminal, as well as behavior that’s not detrimental to public health.”

Board Chair Keith Nelson said the ordinance was purposefully conservative, with the intent of offering room to adjust in the future. He described it as a “starting point” and advised that commissioners not pick it apart at this point. Commissioners used Brad the runaway sheep, who roamed the North Shore for weeks, as a metaphor: Getting away from the farm is easy; corralling him was not as easy.

Several commissioners said it’s easier to loosen regulations than tighten them. Commissioner Paul McDonald referred to it as a “fluid document.”

Potential business owners must first apply for a license through the Office of Cannabis Management, though the lottery system is currently delayed.