The Legislature Eyes Changes in a Seedling Market

MN CANNABIS UPDATES

Legislative Update: What Could Change?
The Minnesota Legislature is at the stage where bills have been introduced and now the question is what gets a committee hearing and what moves forward into the next phase. Some of the cannabis provisions that I’m watching:

·  Extend out-of-state testing for LPHE (hemp THC) products. Allies in the Legislature are fast-tracking this bill, which would preserve MN’s limited testing capacity for the adult-use industry. Otherwise, starting March 31 LPHEs have to test in Minnesota. I’m hearing optimism that this will pass by March 31.

·  Ban on vapes with embedded batteries: this came from Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency, because disposable vapes leach chemicals into landfills. They are also a top seller in dispensaries.

· Rep. West (R) has proposed increasing the amount of overlapping ownership between adult-use licensees allowed under the true party in interest (TPII) rules from 10% to 35%. I’m hearing a compromise might happen – 20%?

· Removing the ban on owning both a hemp THC and adult-use cannabis license. This is especially important because some hemp players want to shift to adult-use in light of the looming federal ban.  

Read the full blog for all about the OCM bills - good and bad - and more!

Thanks to industry group SotaCANN and their lobbyist Will Blauvelt, as well as Maren Schroeder at Blunt Strategies, for their insights. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

READ MORE HERE →

Testing Transport Expires

OCM's Guidance Memo allowing cultivators to transport to testing, without the additional cost/hassle of using a licensed transporter to do so, expired 3/17. It had previously been quietly extended, and some operators and calling on OCM to extend it again, since there are few licensed transporters and the industry desperately needs legal flower to sell.

Compact Signed
Gov. Walz signed an eighth tribal compact, with the Lower Sioux Indian Community.

Hemp-Derived THC Corner

Federal

A federal ban on hemp over 0.4 mg/serving will take effect on Nov. 12, 2026 unless Congress acts to extend or amend that. That possibility is looking less likely. Last week, Congressional leaders chose not to include an extension in the progress of the new Farm Bill; one source said there's no appetite for a fix.

As Minnesota industry leader Steven Brown discusses in his recent article, it's a weird time for hemp: demand has never been stronger. And states are actively working to increase access & regulate or ban intoxicating hemp products, while the federal ban looms. Minnesotan Tanner Berris had a thoughtful Substack article this week entitled, “It's Time to Leave Hemp Behind.”

Minnesota

March 31 is a transition point for Minnesota's hemp THC industry, now technically called the lower-potency hemp edible industry.

OCM has announced that it will issue an approval or denial to all applicants for LPHE-Retail, LPHE-Manufacturer, and LPHE-Wholesaler licenses (who had applied in October) by March 31, and will reopen applications for those three license types on April 1.

March 31 marks the end of the transition period from the previous hemp edible cannabinoid product framework (Minnesota Statutes, section 151.72) to the state’s new cannabis and hemp law and licensing framework (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 342). That means product and labeling changes will now be effective.

Importantly, in-state testing of LPHE will be required starting March 31, *unless the Minnesota Legislature passes a bill allowing out-of state testing by March 31 (which is in process and may well happen)

Guest Blog: Predictable by Design - Strains and Sprains in Cannabis

By Cathy Hovde of Resilient EHS

When people think about safety risks in cannabis operations, they usually picture chemical exposures, mold, or fire and explosion hazards. Those risks are real, but they’re not the injuries most workers experience day to day. In cultivation and manufacturing environments, strains and sprains are the most predictable injuries, and they’re also the most overlooked.

READ MORE HERE →

OTHER CANNABIS NEWS

National
Unfortunately, we have seen NO movement towards rescheduling and, as noted above under "Hemp-Derived Corner", NO fix to stop the hemp THC ban. Instead, as Green State documents, a new federal report calls into question whether Pres. Trump's December executive order will, in fact, be followed. Bad news.

Cashless ATM Alert: Cashless ATM service Paybiotic was suddenly shut down 9 days ago, leaving many dispensaries nationwide without a processor and, even worse, being flagged as violating the law. Minnesota payment provider Evolve Payments reports an influx of new customers interested in its ACH solution. [Link to blog]

Around the States

Virginia: VA will be joining the adult-use cannabis states. Welcome to the wild ride.

Confidential Industry Classifieds

• A social equity Retail license in preliminary approval is interested in selling to the right buyer.

• A broker reports that a group with retail in several locations that have local approvals (in capped markets) is looking to sell ownership due to bandwidth and funding issues.

• A broker is offering mezzo (non-SEA), mezzo SEA, and micro licenses for sale.

Contact Jen at [email protected] to be connected to the poster for more information on any of these opportunities. Note: These are not projects of North Star Cannabis Consulting.

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