The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has agreed to a settlement with a group of social equity marijuana business license applicants who had been granted entry into a canceled license preapproval lottery.
The agreement, which an attorney for the OCM announced Friday in a Ramsey County District Court hearing, likely ends litigation that threatened to disrupt the agency's plans to award hundreds of licenses in lotteries Thursday.
The group had asked the court to force the OCM to reinstate the drawing, which was abandoned in November after a handful of applicants sued, alleging they were unfairly denied entry.
In April, Ramsey County Judge Stephen L. Smith ordered the OCM to stage the lottery, saying the office had a legal obligation to do so. Smith is expected to dismiss that order in the coming days. The pre-license lottery was designed to give social equity applicants, who include veterans, residents of high-poverty areas and people negatively affected by cannabis prohibition, a head start in the new industry.
Read more at The Minnesotta Star Tribune