MJBiz - September/October 2024 - 22

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS State by State
Maryland
Since Maryland's adult-use cannabis market launched on July 1, 2023, state-licensed retailers
have sold more than $1.1 billion in medical and recreational marijuana.
Recreational marijuana sales surpassed $700 million in the past 12 months and MMJ sales
almost hit $400 million, Bethesda TV station WTTG reported, citing data from the Maryland
Cannabis Administration (MCA).
That total includes $95 million in marijuana sales in June, including $67 million in adult-use
transactions.
Maryland's cannabis program has been notable for other reasons, too. State regulators have
established:
* What is purportedly the first " state cannabis reference laboratory " in the United States,
WTTG reported. The laboratory, which focuses on marijuana oversight, is managed by the
MCA.
* A Cannabis Workforce Development Program, which the state also claims is a U.S. first.
The program, established in June in partnership with the Maryland Department of Labor,
prioritizes workforce training for individuals with marijuana-related offenses.
In a sign of Maryland's growing cannabis market, the MCA has roughly doubled its staff,
from 50 people to more than 100, the Rutherford-based Shore News Network reported.
Maryland voters approved an adult-use market in November 2022.
The governor signed into law regulations for the adult-use market in May 2023, and sales
began two months later.
Minnesota
Almost half the applicants for a marijuana social equity license in Minnesota don't live in the
state. Of the 1,817 parties who submitted a pre-application to the state Office of Cannabis
Management (OCM) before an Aug. 12 deadline, only 802 are Minnesota residents, according
to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Just 282 of the applicants will eventually receive permits, which will be awarded via a lottery,
regulators told Minnesota Public Radio.
One hundred of those licenses will be for small businesses, cultivators and manufacturers.
To have been eligible for a social equity license, applicants had to be:
* Veterans.
* New farmers.
* Living in areas with high poverty levels.
* Formerly convicted of possession or selling marijuana.
The OCM said it hopes the early application window will translate into a first-mover
advantage for social equity entrepreneurs. Applicants that secure licenses in this round will be
able to get a jump on financing, construction and other tasks needed to establish a business.
To obtain licenses, applicants must have been verified as meeting social equity criteria and
completing the preapproval application process.
They will then be entered in a September lottery for licenses that have been reserved for
preapproved applicants, the MinnPost reported.
Future application windows will be announced later, the OCM said.
22 September-October 2024 | MJBizMagazine

MJBiz - September/October 2024

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