Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) signed a cannabis policy bill recently that included many significant changes to the adult-use cannabis law.
The Governor’s signature comes about a week after Minnesota regulatorspassed these changes at the end of this session. Among the most important included all military veterans to its social equity program, which is expected to expand the pool of applicants for marijuana business licenses. Some 327,000 military vets reside in Minnesota.
The bill also contains a provision making social equity applicants eligible for pre-approval, enabling some of them to commence with cultivation earlier. The goal is to allow social equity applicants to have their products on the shelves before traditional applicants. This means that social equity applicants, which include people previously convicted of a marijuana-related offense, their family members and those who live in disadvantaged areas, can have their licenses approved this year, while others need to wait until 2025 to apply.
According to Minnesota Reformer’s estimates new social equity licensing rules would make between 30% to 40% of state adults suitable to qualify for social equity cannabis business licenses.
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