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Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management announced Tuesday that it will start accepting applications for business licenses in two weeks. It’s the next step in the state’s 

People looking to grow, sell and transport cannabis products can submit business applications from Feb. 18 to March 14. Those applications will go into lotteries for a capped number of licenses. 

“Getting licenses out the door and into the hands of qualified applicants is our priority as we approach the launch of Minnesota’s adult-use cannabis industry,” OCM interim director Eric Taubel said in a statement.

The state will first hold a lottery for social equity licenses. Eligible social equity applicants have been 

 in the first lottery. These are applicants from communities harmed by past cannabis laws and low-level prosecution, among other groups. 

Pre-approved applicants not selected in that lottery will be automatically entered in the general lottery, along with all other license applicants.

The state office has not yet set dates for the lotteries but said it will likely be in May or June. 

Some business types, including microbusinesses, testing facilities and delivery services, don’t have caps on the number of available licenses. The state said it will review applications for those businesses on a rolling basis.

The social equity license lottery was slated to happen in November, but momentum stalled when several applicants 

 for throwing out two-thirds of the social equity pre-approval applications. The Office of Cannabis Management said applicants hadn’t met requirements, but many rejected applicants said the denials were unfair. Legal issues pushed back the lottery – and the timeline to open legal cannabis businesses. 

The Office of Cannabis Management said in Tuesday’s announcement that it will reach out to applicants who were denied in the license pre-approval process and ask for more information to fix their applications. Once corrected, they can move ahead in the application process. 

Once lotteries are held this spring, business owners selected for licenses can move ahead with opening up shop later in 2025.

Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Author

Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management said it will start accepting applications for business licenses in two weeks. It’s the next step in the state’s rocky launch of a legal cannabis market.

Cannabis business license applications to open in February

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