Dutchie does not provide compliance advice. Merchants are responsible for their own compliance. External Dutchie compliance documentation may be updated from time to time and has been prepared for informational purposes only, is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or compliance advice. Merchants should consult their own tax, legal and compliance advisors to determine how best to operate within the cannabis industry.
In Minnesota,medical cannabis is currently regulated by the Department of Health and adult-use cannabis is regulated by the Office of Cannabis Management. However, beginning on March 1, 202,5 the Office of Cannabis Managementβs Division of Medical Cannabis will begin overseeing the stateβs medical cannabis market.Β
Medical cannabis is permitted in Minnesota; a bill which legalized adult-use cannabis (Chapter 63, HF 100) was signed into law on May 30, 2023. However, adult-use cannabis sales will likely not begin until early 2025 as the Office of Cannabis Management finalizes its rules and issues out licenses.Β
Cannabis cultivator
Cannabis manufacturer
Cannabis retailer
Cannabis microbusiness
Cannabis mezzobusiness
Cannabis wholesaler
Cannabis transporter
Cannabis delivery service
Cannabis event organizer
Minnesota uses Metrc as their seed-to-sale state traceability system. In Minnesota, all inventory actions must be reported to the state system in real time.Β
Note: low-THC hemp purchases count towards purchase limit if purchased from a licensed dispensary
Medical cannabis is exempt from gross receipts tax and sales tax.
Minnesota permits the sale of hemp-derived THC food and drink. These products will continue to be permitted as long as businesses register with the Minnesota Department of Health by October 1, 2023. The Department of Health will regulate hemp-derived cannabis products until the Office of Cannabis Management takes over the licensing, regulation and enforcement of the low-dose hemp-derived market on March 1, 2025.
OCM is documenting their rulemaking process here and the Department of Health compiles their laws and regulations here.
All applications (except for ROD and ROND licensees) must be accompanied by a non-refundable application fee of $1,000. Additional license fees are imposed prior to the issuance of a final license. If the applicant qualifies as a social and economic equity applicant, then a 50% reduction, waiver, or deferred fee will apply. Other reductions, waivers, or fee deferrals may be approved by the Board for those demonstrating sufficient need.Β
Application review for the AUCC, AUCP, and CAURD applications takes approximately 4 to 8 weeks, per the Office. After the Office reviews and processes your application, if it meets the requirements, it will then be presented to the Board for final approval. Applicants may only begin adult-use cannabis activities upon final license approval from the Board.Β
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For the non-conditional adult-use application round opening on October 4, OCM has indicated that it would begin reviewing those retail and microbusiness applications with site control as early as November 3, with no set timeline for ultimate license issuance.
The short answer is that there are no caps on total number of licenses in the Cannabis Law. Weβve seen hundreds of AUCP and AUCC licenses issued to date. For CAURD licenses, whereas the Board initially only planned to issue 150 total licenses, they then agreed to double that number to 300, and then exceeded that number thereafter.Β
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That being said, the Board and the Office may limit the total number of applications in a few different material ways. For instance, they may limit licenses by location or authorized regions (as they have done in the CAURD application round), size of operation or output, or other operating conditions, dependent on issues related to sustainability, public health and safety, and social and economic factors.Β
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For the application round opening on OCtober 3, OCM has indicated that it intends on issuing more than 1,000 total licenses, estimated to be broken down as follows:
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Given that New York has now held three (3) distinct adult-use application rounds (AUCC, AUCP, and CAURD), it should be noted that those three (3) applications were notably consistent. The applications are hosted on the New York Business Express website, which is largely user friendly, though subject to crashes on high volume days (such as the final date for submission of the CAURD applications).Β
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The proposed adult-use regulations identify similar areas of information for the forthcoming license opportunities, including:Β
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For the application period opening on October 3, the Office will initially review:
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As it relates to final licensure, the Office will assess, among other things:
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