OCM ditches social equity preapproval for cannabis licenses; lottery penciled for mid-2025

The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management will do away with its planned social equity preapproval process after a series of lawsuits resulted in a judge halted the agency’s social equity lottery that was scheduled for Nov. 26.

While the state deals with lawsuits brought by a number of applicants who were denied in the preapproval stage, the OCM now says it will go forward with licensing for both social equity and general applicants, with lotteries for each category planned for May or June 2025.

OCM officials had previously said the recreational cannabis market would be up and running by the first quarter of next year.

OCM Interim Director Charlene Briner said the decision to end the preapproval process is meant to prevent any further delays to market launch.

“We remain committed to launching an equitable, sustainable, and responsible cannabis marketplace in Minnesota,” Briner said in a statement. “Our path forward ensures we remain on track to launch Minnesota’s new cannabis market and also preserves some of the social equity benefits that were at the heart of the preapproval process and that are foundational to the law as it was originally conceived.”  

Out of the 1,820 applicants who applied during the social equity preapproval process, 648 were selected to move forward. Those 648 applicants will now automatically move forward in the licensing process, and if they applied for a license that is not capped by state law, they will be able to continue toward securing a license. All others will be entered in the lottery.

Applicants who were denied in the first stage will now have the chance to enter into the general licensing cycle, or they will have until Jan. 10 to claim a refund of their application fee.

Social equity applicants will have from Jan. 15-30 to verify their status. A license application window will open on Feb. 18 for social equity and general applicants and close on March 14.

Two state legislators who crafted Minnesota’s recreational cannabis law — Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, and Rep. Zach Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids — issued a statement on Wednesday expressing their dismay that the OCM would not hold an early lottery for social equity applicants.

They blamed “bad actors” for upending a preapproval process that was supposed to give a head start to people who were harmed by prohibition, such as veterans, people of color and people convicted of low-level marijuana offenses.

“It was foundational to the intent of this law that those who were most harmed by prohibition get a first shot at building Minnesota’s legal cannabis industry. It is frustrating those who did not follow the rules have disrupted that commitment,” Port and Stephenson said in a statement.