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Cannabis guidelines coming quickly in Minnesota cities, counties

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Published  October 17, 2024 7:14pm CDT
Cannabis
FOX 9

MN cities scrambling to establish cannabis guidelines

Minnesota city governments are working to establish guidelines for cannabis use before reactional licenses go out next year. FOX 9's Corin Hoggard has the latest.

The Brief

    • Minnesota cities and counties are scrambling to establish cannabis guidelines before recreational use licenses can go out next year.
    • Some cities - including Scandia and St. Paul - are making it easy to open businesses. Other places - like Goodhue County and Albert Lea are leaning towards the strictest possible rules.
    • Cities and counties have to allow at least one retailer per 12,500 people.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - It’s cannabis crunch time in Minnesota.

The clock is ticking for cities and counties that want to put limits on recreational marijuana businesses, so a lot of them are scrambling to put guardrails on the cannabis industry.

Establishing cannabis guardrails

It’s expected to launch early next year and if a local government doesn’t establish guidelines, it could be a free-for-all.

Detroit Lakes took a baby step into cannabis regulation last week when its city council agreed on zoning restrictions for cultivation and manufacturing.

They hit a pause on regulations for retailers, so like a lot of Minnesota cities and counties, they’re on a short timeline to finish.

Easy peasy in St. Paul, Scandia

Cities like St. Paul and Scandia are poised to give cannabis businesses a fairly open runway.

"Council at past discussions talked about letting the market decide the appropriate number of licenses within the community," said Scandia city administrator Kyle Morell during a city council discussion where they preliminarily agreed not to limit businesses.

Pass on cannabis

But public comments in places like Goodhue County reflect communities that wish cannabis wasn’t coming at all.

"Oh yeah, 'We're going to bring it in a community, but we're going to make it really safe,'" said Wade Otto at Goodhue County's meeting this month discussing possible cannabis ordinances. "That's all B.S. and you guys know it. There's no way to make garbage like this safe."

What cities, counties must allow

The state law passed last year sets a minimum number of retail licenses in cities and counties at one per 12,500 residents.

With almost 48,000 people, Goodhue County is required to allow at least four.

That’s where it’s headed, with most or all of the retailers in Red Wing and Pine Island.

The city of Albert Lea is also aiming for the fewest possible retailers.

"It is as restrictive as allowed by the state with only the establishment of two at this time," said Albert Lea City Manager Ian Rigg.

The final countdown

The law also lets cities and counties set buffers between cannabis businesses and places like schools and daycare facilities.

Most of them seem to be setting those at the maximum.

The rules are not yet final, and dozens of cities and counties will vote on their rules in the next couple of months.

Cannabis regulations by city

Here is a list of some of Minnesota cities' cannabis regulations: 

CannabisBusinessMinnesotaSt. PaulScandia