Some Cities Say No To Dispensaries In Minnesota Using Legal Loophole

Cannabis legalization in Minnesota has been a long road. It was legalized two and a half years ago, and we're now just getting retail operations up and running across the state. Last week, several dispensaries started selling recreational marijuana. As licenses are being issued, we're starting to see how some cities are keeping it out of their town.

MinnPost wrote an enlightening article describing how some cities are testing the limits of the cannabis law and using legal gray areas to keep it out of their city. MinnPost writer Brian Arola expects that judges or lawmakers will have to tackle this subject eventually.

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12,500 Residents Formula

Some cities are using a loophole not to grant any cannabis licenses at all. A section in the cannabis law states that if a county has an active registration for every 12,500 residents, a city or town in that same county is not obligated to register a cannabis business.

So that means some counties with low populations, such as Lake Of The Woods and Traverse County, will only have 1 cannabis license issued for the entire county.

Read More: Comparing Minnesota Weed Prices To Michigan

Minnesota Cities Limits

The City of Duluth has a population of 87,986, and they are issuing 7 cannabis licenses for the city. St. Cloud would be capped at 6 dispensaries. Using the 12m,500 rule, Minneapolis could have up to 34.

Rural, low population density places will likely need to travel to a bigger city to purchase cannabis, unless their local governments embrace the new legalization.