A proposal requiring potential Olmsted County cannabis retailers have access to $100,000 in start-up funds appears to have been nixed.
"This will discourage many people from diverse communities," county commissioner Bob Hopkins said of a proposal for local registration requirements. He said the funding requirement could run counter to state goals related to social equity, which seek to prioritize business applications from residents harmed by past marijuana prohibition.
The local $100,000 financing requirement was proposed with a planned ordinance revision laying out steps for selecting licensed cannabis retailers to be registered by the county. Commissioners capped the number at 14 last year.
With county officials expecting applications will exceed the cap, county commissioners decided in March to use a local lottery to select registrants once the state's Office of Cannabis Management issues all retail-related licenses later this summer.
Read more at The Post Bulletin