October 20, 2023
Minnesota’s cannabis retailer license provision gives licensees a number of rights, but those rights also come with certain restrictions. Here is a summary of the key points:
- Authorized Actions: A cannabis retailer license allows a licensee to purchase various cannabis-related products, including immature cannabis plants, seedlings, cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer products. They can buy these products from other licensed cannabis businesses (although they cannot buy from other cannabis retail licensees), including microbusinesses, mezzobusinesses, cultivators, manufacturers, and wholesalers. They can also sell these products directly to customers. The Office of Cannabis Management may also authorize additional activities but we do not have rules and regulations from the Office yet.
- Size Limitations: A cannabis retailer can operate up to five retail locations. This limitation is – I believe – intended to limit the ability of large companies to come in and completely take over the market. I think this is going to help make Minnesota a unique market with more room for small local businesses than in other legalized states.
- Additional Information Required: As briefly noted above, applicants for a cannabis retail license must provide additional information, including a list of all retail licenses held by the applicant, but also those held by each officer, director, manager, or general partner. License applicants also have to provide a proposed layout of the facility showing ventilation and filtration systems, policies to avoid selling to those under 21, restricted storage areas, and plans to prevent “the visibility of cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer products to individuals outside of the retail location.” In other words, these stores are not going to be made of see-through glass on the exterior (but if they are, they’ll have to be covered up somehow).
- Multiple Licenses: A cannabis retailer license holder can also hold other licenses, such as a cannabis delivery service license, a medical cannabis retailer license, and a cannabis event organizer license. There are also restrictions on how many retail locations a licensee may own or operate (no more than 1 in one city, and no more than 3 locations in any one county). Whether or not individuals can own an interest in multiple businesses with separate retail licenses is something that is being left up to the Office of Cannabis Management, so we will have to wait and see.
- Municipal or County Cannabis Store: Cities or counties have the option to establish, own, and operate municipal cannabis stores, subject to certain restrictions outlined in the chapter.
This is some of the nitty-gritty on cannabis retail licenses. I think one of the biggest open questions is whether an individual can own an interest in multiples businesses that each have their own retail license and, if so, how many. This could allow – at least in theory – one person to own an interest in several difference retail licensees (subject to any limitation imposed by the Office).