‘Build the plane while we’re flying it’: Cannabis regulators ready for next phase of legalization

A year after it became legal for adults 21 and up to use, possess and grow their own cannabis in Minnesota, state regulators are busy preparing for the full build-out of the marijuana marketplace.

The Office of Cannabis Management opened the application process last week for social equity applicants to receive state licenses to grow, manufacture and sell cannabis commercially. As part of the state’s phased roll out, applicants from communities disproportionately impacted by the policing of prior marijuana regulations will get the first shot at entering the legal industry.

Wide-scale sales won’t be permitted until early next year. But behind the scenes, the agency is getting ready for a lot more supply to hit store shelves and the inspection role it’ll play.

Charlene Briner, the office’s interim director, said more than 3,100 people made it through the screening process to get pre-approved for a state license since the window opened this summer. Thousands more expressed interest in setting up shop in Minnesota.

After the application process closes, eligible applicants will move next to a lottery process to determine which will be able to move forward. The timeline for that next step depends on how many people apply and how long it takes the office to vet each application.

“I think that we are certainly on track to have our regulations in place, our rules adopted in early 2025,” Briner said. “That really kicks off the final stages of a pre-opening inspection, the local approvals that are required and a business being ready to open their doors.”

Briner is referring to when full-scale retail should get the green light. Tribal nations have had the ability to grow and sell cannabis already because they are sovereign entities. And lawmakers approved hemp-derived THC products, such as gummies and seltzers, for use and commercial sale in 2022.

Briner said the evolving landscape for legalization spurs a lot of questions.

“We are seeing folks who are really interested in engaging in that, whether for personal use, or we’re seeing medical patients who are engaged in home grow,” Briner said. “And a lot of education around possession limits, what’s allowed, what’s not.”

It has been a whirlwind year for Briner and her team. The Legislature established the office in 2023 and it instructed staff there to make the rules for the new legal industry.

“We’ve gone from one person rattling around at the Department of Agriculture to a staff of more than 75 people who are helping us as we continue to build this plane while we’re flying it,” Briner said.

On Wednesday, the office released a 111-page outline of draft rules and regulations for the adult use, medical and hemp-derived markets. The rules get into storage, labeling and testing of products as well as how inspectors, local governments and other regulators should operate.

The rules cover the cannabis market from seed to sale and the many steps in between. Labeling, for instance, would include a cannabis leaf with the words THC and there would be a 21-plus notation and a poison control number on all retail cannabis products.

The draft rules must be finalized and adopted before manufacturing and retail operations can push forward toward consumer sales. That’s expected to happen in early 2025, although state officials are lining up pre-approved licenses to give some cannabis businesses a head start on planning.

Some of the people keeping the state’s existing legal cannabis space in check now are on the office’s enforcement team. Roughly 10 inspectors investigate calls about questionable hemp-derived THC products and analyze samples that come into the lab.

Hannah Tims, the office’s regulatory lab services coordinator, tested a sample of cannabis flower last week to determine if it contains THC — the component that can make a user feel high.

Inspectors brought in the sample because they thought the cannabis flower’s certificate of analysis was sketchy. Vendors who sell cannabis products — like gummies, seltzers or hemp flower — need to prove the compounds they advertise don’t contain more than 0.3 percent THC.

Tims cut the sample into small pieces before mixing it with a solvent to extract the cannabinoids inside it. Then she squeezed a bit of liquid through a filter into a testing kit that looks like a bright orange briefcase. In about eight minutes, it can size up the sample and spit out an analysis of what’s in it.

Once it’s had time to assess, the test displays how much CBD and THC it contains. The sample in question had elements of CBD but no THC.

“So that would be allowable to sell in stores,” Tim said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that the inspectors were wrong, that the certificate of analysis doesn’t match with what we see here. So then they can look at the other ratios that are reported to see if those match.”

It’s just a glimpse of the kind of quality-control tests that will multiply as retail sales begin and marijuana is available at locations all over Minnesota.

“When we have a regulated industry, we should have the amount of cannabinoid that you’re getting in your weed,” Tims said. “You should know the quality, the quantity of different things that you’re getting in there. So I think those are the upsides of doing the testing for all of the samples.”

The state is also working to find a director to run the office on a more permanent basis. An initial pick for the post resigned after one day and the process for picking a new one has been underway for months.

Gov. Tim Walz said it has been a challenge to recruit someone as more states have legalized cannabis.

“It’s hard, we’re trying to find a regulator type. The money that we can offer is one that’s, you know, it’s hard to attract,” Walz said in July.

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