A year after Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana, the state is looking to make it easier for small marijuana businesses to get off the ground, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
A bill introduced March 8 would lower the required percentage of majority party owners to qualify for a marijuana business license from 100% to 65%.
Under the proposed bill, entrepreneurs who qualify as social equity applicants would be eligible to obtain licenses early so they can prepare their businesses in advance of sales going live sometime next year.
"A lottery is not necessarily going to select people who have the most knowledge, skills, and passion," says marijuana entrepreneur Marcus Harcus, who plans to apply for a license that meets social equity criteria.
Minnesota's current system of awarding licenses is based on a points-based system, which Office of Cannabis Management interim directorCharlene Briner says has created "vulnerability" in other states with legal recreational marijuana.
Briner says she wants to switch to a lottery system to make sure big marijuana businesses don't try to stack the deck by sponsoring multiple applications for licenses.
However, Todd Harris, co-founder and CEO of THC and CBD beverage company Plift, says he's worried that big marijuana businesses will "exploit the opportunity to push a bunch of applications in" using the Read the Entire Article
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