Yesterday may have been a pivotal day in my next adventure: I applied for a Minnesota cannabis micro business license.
Applications were due by 11:59pm August 12, 2024 (Monday). There was short notice in July and a small window to apply for cannabis license (2-weeks max).
The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management https://mn.gov/ocm/ (OCM) is still trying to iron-out details for a planned 2025 launch of Minnesota recreational marijuana.
In Minnesota, you can already grow a few recreation plants and smoke in your residence, but there is no where to buy weed unless you have a medical cannabis card or you travel north to Red Lake Reservation to buy from the tribe (https://www.nativecare.com).
Considering the cost, time, and the uncertainty of not getting a license, I was not going to apply for a license for a few reasons:
- Potential group of initial investors have not talked about moving forward in a while.
- I do not have the facilities for a grow.
- Limited personal funds. (I really can’t afford to wager $500 on a license I may or may not get).
- No recent/update business plan and paperwork to submit.
Then I started thinking about it…given my experience with the government, and also the willingness of the government these days to work with and educate you as a farmer, my confidence improved for wagering on a non-refundable $500 application fee in a license-lottery for one of the first Minnesota recreational cannabis licenses.
My former-job at the Rock County SWCD gave me a general insight into how the bureaucratic machine moves and what they are looking for paperwork for farmers. The government has good programs trying to do the right thing, but too often they lack the marketing to let citizens know what is available and when/how to apply.
On Sunday afternoon, I took a look at the application for the initial cannabis licensing round.
Normally, you will want schedule two weeks to work through new government videos and forms. There is a lot to think about….business plan, SOP’s, taxes, funding, security, business structure, etc.
There is also technology hiccups that will give you issues in filling out forms and having your application accepted by a deadline….the right forms, right uploads, right downloads, different website quirks, Excel spreadsheets versus Mac’s spreadsheets, etc.
Around Noon on Monday, I decided to just go for it.
Thanks to my degrees, experience with government, experience with webpages, experience with writing business plans…I was able to hammer out and submit an application by 8pm CST.
AI (ChatGPT and Gemini) help do a lot of the lifting. I had to use my experience to edit and prompt information, but essentially AI wrote the application.
We will see if I win the lottery.
If I do win the license-lottery, I need to move on to the next phase:
Raise over $700,000 and find a place to grow in 2025.
