Minnesota state cannabis regulators think a key to getting the state's program up and running by next spring is a lottery.
Not THE lottery, as in the Minnesota state lottery. But a similarly random method for deciding which applicants receive the first licenses to open stores, build large grow operations or create the combination enterprises known as cannabis microbusinesses and cannabis mezzobusinesses.
While the method in current law—deciding which applicants win licenses based on how many points they accumulate—might be just as fast, it is also more likely to attract lawsuits that will slow the process, regulators say. Litigation in other states, often over the preference given to what are defined as social equity applicants, has delayed the opening of stores and other cannabis businesses.
So, a lottery, as well as other changes in the 2023 recreational cannabis law, can be seen as a lawsuit repellant.
Read more at marijuanamoment.net