THC edibles

moratorium

continues

through Sept.

By Fritz Busch

Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE — Sleepy Eye City Manager Bob Elston updated the city council Tuesday on a new state law that legalizes adult-use cannabis and creates a regulatory framework over the cannabis industry.

Last September, the city council unanimously approved an interim ordinance placing a one-year moratorium on cannabis sales. Elston said the moratorium was needed to protect kids in the community and was a starting point for studying cannabis sales.

“As the new (cannabis) law passed a few weeks ago is unpacked, we find that it’s different in many ways from the edibles law passed last July,” Elston said. “It’s also absorbing that (2022) law into the new 300-page law. Now, a lot of the (old) law is kind of out the window. Fortunately for us, the League (League of Minnesota Cities) Annual Conference is next week. There is a session on this topic.”

“I think we’re going to want to wait and see what the League’s advice is on all of this before we go much further with it,” Elston added. “The new law allows us to stop the sales until January 2025. We still have to deal (THC) edibles rules to some degree.”

Sleepy Eye City Attorney Alissa Fischer said the city can have a moratorium until January 1, 2025 which is when the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management is expected to be operating. She said a public hearing would need to be called to discuss the moratorium.

“Basically, it’s a big law, a moving target. They’re creating a whole new office to regulate it (cannabis),” Fischer said. “License applications going to the new office of cannabis management go through the city but we can only look at it in a zoning and land use perspective. Long story short, we’re going to get a lot more information. I think it would be useful to delay (cannabis) sales until January 1, 2025.”

Fischer said cities are required under the new law to do compliance checks. The new state cannabis management office would get 80% of a cannabis sales tax and cities and counties would each receive 10% of the sales tax.

In addition, she said under the indoor air quality act, individuals can’t smoke cannabis at indoors public places.

The new cannabis law establishes labor standards for the use of cannabis and hemp products by employees and testing of employees, establishes expungement (strike out, obliterate, or mark for deletion) procedures for certain individuals previously convicted of a crime related to cannabis.

Possession, use and home growth under this new law will be legal beginning Aug. 1, 2023. Legal sales are expected to begin in January 2025.

For more information, visit lmc.org.