The Pine Journal
“This is not easy work. It is not for the faint-hearted, and it’s for people who are really committed to this kind of work,” Charlene Briner said
ST. PAUL — Friday was the last day for the director of Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management, Charlene Briner. She was appointed in 2023 as interim director, which was supposed to last just a few months, but it stretched into a 20-month-long job.
Briner has been nicknamed the Swiss Army knife of state government because of her versatile talents. She was overseeing the rollout of legal recreational marijuana in Minnesota.
Briner has said that she would serve until she felt comfortable, or until the “governor made a decision that somebody else was in a position to take the reins.”
As Briner leaves, she’s proud of the team they’ve assembled.
“I have always said, this isn’t about one job. I’m tired. I did not plan on staying for a year and a half,” she said.
Eric Taubel as general counsel will be taking the reins, she says.
The office has posted their rules for comment, which they will be adapting in a few weeks, and on Wednesday, they open for the next round of licensing. Licenses will be handed over in a few months, and Briner says now is a good time for her to step away.
Briner said part of the struggle to get a permanent director for this office is due to the challenging workload and content. She has heard from other states’ directors that the average tenure of the first director of a cannabis office is 17 months.
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