MJBiz - July/August 2024 - 25

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
Minnesota
Military veterans in Minnesota will qualify as social equity applicants for cannabis licenses
under changes to the state's legislation.
More than 327,000 veterans in the state will be able to apply for licenses, which previously
were reserved for those who had been convicted of marijuana-related offenses as well as
their relatives and individuals living in low-income communities, according to nonprofit news
outlet Minnesota Reformer.
Qualified social equity license applicants previously included veterans with disabilities,
members of the National Guard and veterans who were demoted because of marijuanarelated
offenses. Lawmakers aim to give social equity applicants priority access to the market
when adult-use stores open, potentially as early as spring 2025.
The law also includes:
* Changes to eligibility for medical marijuana patients; doctors would be able to authorize
MMJ for any condition.
* A limited number of cultivation, manufacturing and retail licenses.
* Lottery-awarded licenses instead of points-based issuances.
* Allowing bars to sell THC-infused and alcoholic drinks to the same customer if they aren't
visibly impaired.
Adult-use cannabis already is available on tribal lands in the state.
New Hampshire
The state will remain the lone holdout in the New England market without a regulated adultuse
cannabis program after New Hampshire lawmakers refused to compromise on a controversial
legalization bill.
As expected, Gov. Chris Sununu's vision for a unique state-run sales model-14 government-owned
marijuana stores throughout the state-failed 178-173 with lawmakers in the
libertarian-leaning state House of Representatives, the Associated Press reported.
The latest action eliminates the chance of an adult-use marijuana market passing during
this legislative session. The bill's failure is considered a mixed bag for marijuana entrepreneurs,
as it would have offered limited business opportunities.
The Sununu-supported state-run sales model would have been an outlier in the United
States. Though hard liquor is sold at state-run franchise stores in New Hampshire and several
other states, government-run cannabis sales would have been a first.
New Mexico
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than $90,000 worth of marijuana
products from state-licensed cannabis operators in New Mexico during two separate stops in
late April.
Kai Kirk, managing partner of Las Cruces-based Head Space Distribution, alerted MJBizDaily
to the latest encounters between U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and New Mexico
marijuana companies. Those stops continue a trend that began in February and has resulted in
regulated operators losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in product.
CBP is authorized to patrol within 100 miles of those states' borders with Mexico.
Todd Stevens, director of the New Mexico Cannabis Control Division, asked that licensed
operators promptly report stop-and-seizure events to the agency. Agency spokesperson
Andrea Brown told MJBizDaily that its office now knows of eight such events.
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MJBiz - July/August 2024

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