The head of the state’s Cannabis Control Board said Wednesday, October 24th, during a stop in Rochester, that she anticipates licenses for the first recreational cannabis dispensaries in the state not being issued until the spring of 2023 at the earliest.
Tremaine Wright, the board chair, made the statement during a “cannabiz” symposium held at Comedy at the Carlson. She said the board was working on an 18-month timeline to build the requisite policies framing the new legal cannabis market.
"That timeline," she said, "doesn’t necessarily mean dispensaries will be open or fully-stocked by then either, but rather that they will have the legal authority to operate."
“What we do control is getting (dispensaries) licensing and giving them all the tools so they can work within our systems,” Wright said. “That’s what we are saying will be achieved in 18 months. Not that they’re open, not that they’ll be full-blown operations, because we don’t know that.”