Hazy times: Local businesses, lawmakers discuss the highs and lows of a new state law legalizing THC
On Friday, July 1, Alex Thompson, owner of The Melting Clock Smokeshop, 3020 N Broadway Ave, faced a swarm of customers. A new Minnesota state law allowing for the production, distribution, and sale (to persons over 21) of edibles containing 5 milligrams of hemp-derived THC had just gone into effect.
“That first day that they legalized it, and that weekend, we had, probably, our most profitable day. There were a couple of days there where it was crazy good business,” says Thompson.
Since July 1, all kinds of businesses outside the realm of smoke shops have added THC-infused products to their inventories. The announcements are an increasingly regular occurrence on social media. A sampling:
In a July 21 Twitter post, Jack’s Bottle Shop, 909 6th St NW, unveiled their stock of edibles.
On August 10, vegan restaurant Old Abe & Co, 832 7th St NW, posted about their new offerings: THC-infused chocolates by Spartan Wellness, a Canadian CBD company.
A post on August 22 by acupuncture, chiropractic, massage and physical therapy clinic Optimal Movement, 3270 19th St NW, advertised the addition of BLNCD Delta 9 THC gummies to their roster of salves, herbal remedies, and oils.
Abe Sauer, owner of Old Abe & Co, decided to stock THC edibles after talking with a distributor, a number of suppliers, and friends. He keeps up on guidance from state agencies like the Board of Pharmacy, which is responsible for regulation (though the law does not require licensing for manufacture, distribution, or sale of these products).
So far, Sauer says he’s seen a lot of curiosity about how the narrow allowance works.
“We are by no means selling out every day and that’s good as the absolutely best approach to this is moderation and careful progress,” says Sauer. “Our own personal policy here is to discuss with each customer the dosing levels if they are not familiar with them and limiting total one-time sales to each person.”
Sauer is not required to limit his sales like that; the law places no limit on the number of packages customers can purchase. And even if it did, it seems no one is checking.
“There is no coalition of police officers going around to smoke shops to see if you're selling these cannabinoids right now,” says Thompson.
He says no one has checked out his inventory to ensure compliance. Peter Andrews, manager of Downtown Intimates, 220 1st Ave SW, says the same.
“Basically, there's a lot of confusion about what's legal and what's not,” says Andrews. “It would be nice if someone would interpret the law and just go down the line, give clear, ‘This is legal and covered under this,’ and not just assume something.”
The lack of clarity around the new THC law has already caused trouble. Before stocking up on THC edibles, Jack’s Bottle Shop owner Jack Lester reached out to the city clerk’s office to make his shop could sell them. He says he was given the go-ahead.
“So we let it rip for a few weeks. And we did astronomical sales with those products,” says Lester.
Then, Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement sent an email to liquor stores explaining that, under state law, exclusive liquor stores are only permitted a narrow scope of items they can sell. THC products are not on that list.
The day after he got the email, Lester posted on Facebook that edible sales would be winding down. They sold the rest of their stock in a day.
“We had a zoo of people coming in to purchase the rest of our gummies,” says Lester.
Some of the hemp-derived THC products being sold at The Melting Clock Smokeshop in Rochester / Photo by Briana Beyerstedt
Andrews and Thompson have added reason to want more specificity from the law — both have edibles brands of their own, Melting Clock Gummies and THC Joint, respectively. Their products follow current regulations; edibles are third-party tested and come in childproof packaging designed not to appeal to minors.
There has been legal ambiguity regarding certain THC edibles since the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which changed the definition of legal hemp (the agricultural crop). Hemp is the same plant that produces marijuana — hemp is harvested earlier. The farm bill put restrictions on Delta 9, a way of deriving THC from hemp, but not others, like Delta 8. Since the law was silent on Delta 8, buyers and sellers proceeded as though it was legal, without restrictions or regulations on packaging or THC content. The Minnesota law addresses that silence on Delta 8 products.
“When they changed the law, it actually negatively affected me. It's kind of funny because everybody's been congratulating me like it's been a big win,” laughs Thompson, whose shop was left holding an unsellable stock of higher milligram Delta 8 edibles after the law was enacted. Minnesota’s law halved the allowed THC content per edible from the industry standard of 10mg.
The state’s regulation of THC products seems to have garnered more attention than the tacit legalization of Delta 8 products of the farm bill, though.
“One thing that we have noticed is that there's a lot of first time users. ‘Oh, it's legal now. Well, I'm going to try it.’” says Andrews. “A lot of people are trying it for the first time. And that's more than made up for the loss of the Delta 8 products.”
Still, unsellable inventory was a potential hardship shops had little time to prepare for, given the sudden nature of the legislation.
“Unfortunately, all this was right at the end of session. So there weren't those hearings that would have fleshed out a lot of this,” says Republican State Sen. Carla Nelson. “There's nothing that replaces full disclosure, full information, making sure people are not surprised. And this was a surprise, in a sense.… I think there's going to be a lot of discussion this year, even the author of the bill in the House was very clear about that. There's more work to do. And there needs to be full transparency, full public engagement.”
How did we get here?
“I never viewed [the legislation passed in May] as legalizing cannabis at all because these substances, hemp-derived THC, was already being sold. It was being sold legally, but in kind of a gray area,” says DFL State Rep. Liebling, a longtime advocate for legalizing cannabis. The law was meant to provide legal clarity.
According to Nelson, the bill was an agreement between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Board of Pharmacy. Its passage has become somewhat infamous.
On May 19, during a conference committee on the omnibus health and human services bill, the amendment “exempting cannabinoids derived from hemp from Schedule 1 of the controlled substances schedule” passed unanimously by voice vote.
After its passage, Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka now famously said — “That doesn’t legalize marijuana — we didn’t just do that.”
Liebling responded, “Oh, are you kidding? Of course you have. No, just kidding. We’ll do that next, OK?”
That exchange, viewable on YouTube, plus later comments to the press by Sen. Abler, led to the passage of the bill to be deemed “accidental.” (Sen. Abler told Star Tribune reporter Ryan Faircloth that he believed the law would only regulate THC edibles, not legalize them. He has said he’d like to roll back the law.)
Liebling thought Abler was joking. “He does that — he jokes around. It just seemed like he was, you know, joking. So I answered in kind,” says Rep. Liebling. “I was just surprised that he, later on, didn't know what he had been doing.”
City seeks clarity
Several cities around the state have enacted their own restrictions. Rochester is still weighing its options.
According to city spokesperson Jenna Bowman, city staff are working with the League of Minnesota Cities to look at legislative policy ideas and regulatory templates. They are examining best practices for whether or not to regulate edible cannabinoids products beyond state regulations.
“The current plan is that City teammates would bring forward feedback to the City Council after gaining better information about the complexity of the issue and have a better sense of how regulation beyond the state statute would impact Rochester,” wrote Bowman.
““There should just be more resources put into the monitoring and enforcement of it. And you can’t do that unless you have some taxation to pay for that.””
On the state level, a repeal is unlikely to occur without a full-on Republican sweep of both houses and the governorship. Sen. Nelson believes that both parties are interested in looking into two lage concerns: mood altering substances being accessed by children and the lack of an adequate field sobriety test.
“Those are two important things that I think will be looked at in the next legislative session. By both parties,” predicts Nelson.
That sentiment was echoed by Amanda Grayson, communications coordinator for the Rochester Police Department, who said in an email to us that, “From a law enforcement perspective, we have concerns regarding sales, possession and use of THC by juveniles and issues related to driving under the influence.”
Liebling says more enforcement needs to be set up and taxes to fund it explored. Rules regarding municipal control of regulations are also on the table.
“We do need to make sure that it's being enforced, the packaging, all of it. There should just be more resources put into the monitoring and enforcement of it. And you can't do that unless you have some taxation to pay for that,” says Liebling.
Edibles being sold in non-age-restricted businesses is another potential area for policy revision.
“Limiting who's able to sell it, that would be probably a good idea, instead of letting it be widely available,” says Thompson.
“I think they should just legalize it,” adds Andrews. “I mean, honestly, the House bill that passed for recreational [marijuana] had everything you needed in it: regulation, licensing, help for social programs… Now they passed this, and they [have] no regulations other than packaging and dosage size.”
Thompson and Andrews might get to express their opinions to a legislator without leaving their shops; Sen. Nelson says she plans on observing how the product is displayed and sold in smoke shops and other providers before the next legislative session.
Bryan Lund is a Rochester writer and regular contributor to Med City Beat.
