Minnesota marijuana: Home delivery rules, timeline
(FOX 9) - Minnesota’s marijuana business is slowly taking shape as legalization for recreational use is just over a month away.
Deliveries could become big business for entrepreneurs in this state and coming from others.
They’re gearing up to get cannabis to any home in Minnesota, and they have some rules for doing it safely. But some rules are still unknown and so is the timeline.
Inside an unmarked Twin Cities area warehouse, Steven Brown swelled with pride as he showed FOX 9 the hemp-derived products his company makes and distributes.
He led us away from the gummies and tinctures towards a basic office.
"This is what I like to call our war room," said the Nothing But Hemp CEO.
The "war room" is the technological center of Nothing But Hemp, a couple of computer monitors managing 50 to 100 daily deliveries.
"What you’ll see right over here all the different orders that just came in today," Brown said about the monitors.
Hemp deliveries have some of the same requirements the state set up for marijuana deliveries when they begin.
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Brown’s company verifies customers are at least 21 years old. Deliveries can’t go out in a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, but the vehicles have to be somewhat mysterious and unmarked.
With marijuana, they’ll also need locked storage space and a second employee in the car for security.
"You want to sort of build in your safeguards first," said Aaron Turvey, CEO of Missouri Hemp Improvement Co.
Turvey is preparing to expand his delivery company from Missouri to Minnesota. He says security problems haven’t popped up yet, but he tries to protect his drivers.
"Nothing after dark," he said. "Always have your buddy system. And even though it isn’t state complaint yet in Missouri, since Day 1 we’ve had body cameras."
Turvey says he can have his business ready to go in Minnesota in 30 days. But it’s a waiting game right now for most cannabis businesses.
The state Office of Cannabis Management told us their work, including finalizing some rules, is in the preliminary stages.
Brown’s a minority business owner and a veteran, but he’s not sure he can get licensing for all aspects of the cannabis business. So he’s thinking about selling off the delivery side of Nothing But Hemp.
"I’m really kind of freaked out of not knowing where we’re going to go in our business," Brown said.
The state doesn’t expect to start giving out licenses for retail or delivery until 2025, but the new law allows tribal nations to do both.
So some delivery business owners are preparing as if they’ll start doing that in August.