How will Minnesota's adult-use cannabis market shake out?

The adult-use cannabis market in Minnesota could end up mirroring the state’s celebrated craft beer scene.The state’s two medical marijuana companies – multistate operators Green Thumb Industries and Vireo Growth – were prohibited from converting their licenses to recreational because lawmakers want small, independent businesses to have an opportunity to participate in the industry.

ADVERTISEMENT Other states that have added adult use to their medical marijuana programs have permitted existing MMJ operators to convert their licenses, which ensures a supply of cannabis as recreational sales launch.“My interpretation is that some Democratic lawmakers view medical cannabis manufacturers as evil multistate operators,” said Jason Tarasek, a Minneapolis-based partner with marijuana law firm Vicente.

“A lot of the talk was to create a craft cannabis market along the lines of Minnesota’s microbrewery market.“MSOs didn’t fit into that equation.” Creating a craft cannabis industry To encourage the industry to develop like Minnesota’s craft brewing sector has, regulators didn’t cap the number of microbusiness licenses it can issue.

Cannabis microbusinesses can grow, make, sell and buy marijuana, lower-potency hemp edibles and hemp-derived consumer products.They’re also allowed to have on-site lounges where customers can use marijuana.

But they don’t have to do all those things.They can choose to be small-scale cultivators and put their flower in the supply chain for manufacturers and retailers to use.

The cost to obtain a microbusiness license is low, with a $500 application fee, no initial license fee and an annual renewal license fee of $2,000. ADVERTISEMENT “The scale of operation is designed to make it so that the risk you’re taking on starting a microbusiness is more controlled,” said Leili Fatehi, partner and principal of Blunt Strat...