Cannabis lottery process draws fire

A planned lottery to give some would-be cannabis business owners a licensing head start won’t go forward early this week after a judge halted the process Monday.

Ramsey County District Court Judge Stephen Smith sided with a group of applicants who had been denied access to the social equity pre-approval lottery. They sued over a process they argued had lacked clear criteria and that left no room for appeals.

“There’s no lottery tomorrow,” Smith ruled toward the end of an hour-long online hearing. He said the state was free to file an appeal.

Ahead of the hearing, officials with the Office of Cannabis Management warned that the lottery might not happen at all if it was postponed given the cost and logistics of putting it on.

Attorney David Asp, who represented some of the applicants, told Smith that the lottery was rushed and that people who were denied entry deserved a chance to contest their disqualification.

“The state doesn’t dispute that our client will suffer irreparable harm if this order isn’t entered. That’s usually one of the main issues in an injunction, but it’s not a dispute here. Our clients will be harmed,” Asp said. “The harm on the OCM side is entirely of their own making.”

The Office of Cannabis Management had defended its process, saying they were attempting to root out applicants who were looking for a quick profit instead of actually moving to set up legitimate businesses. Officials with the regulatory agency said that some applications appeared to have been put in on behalf of other entrepreneurs trying to get a foothold in Minnesota’s nascent market.