State Law: Do Minnesota Cannabis Businesses Have Hours Rules?

Minnesota is in the early days of the new legal recreational cannabis law, which went into effect in 2023.

For people looking to partake in such products, Minnesota is still in a period of transition with a limited landscape for certain products.

While hemp-derived beverages and edibles have been available essentially from day one of the law going into effect in 2023, the availability of flower and other marijuana products are currently limited to a small handful of retail outlets licensed and operating on tribal lands that have opened in the wake of the state law.

While tribal governments have been able to quickly act to license these new businesses, the State of Minnesota's rollout of licensing for growing and distribution/retail has been much slower, with the first licensed businesses elsewhere in the state not expected until maybe 2025.

Being this is still a pretty new landscape, you might wonder what Minnesota's law says about elements of the distribution of these newly-legal products. Consumers might liken purchasing cannabis products to alcohol in terms of how some of the rules are set up.

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Specifically when it comes to hours of sale for alcohol, for example, Minnesota Statue limits on-sale sales to between 8 am and 2 am Monday-Saturday and 10 am-2 am Sunday (with some extra stipulations). The statute limits off-sale sales to the hours of 8 am-10 pm Monday-Saturday and 11 am-6 pm on Sunday, with certain holidays excluded.

So, what does the new law say about cannabis products?

The Minnesota Statute says hours of operation for cannabis businesses "with a license or endorsement authorizing the retail sale of cannabis flower or cannabis products" do have set hours for sales of products.

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Businesses can sell cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, or hemp-derived consumer products between the hours of 8 am and 2 am Monday-Saturday, and 10 am-2 am on Sunday. These statewide hours are the same as the hours designated for on-sale alcohol sales, but can vary if a community opts to do so.

The law says "A city or county may adopt an ordinance to prohibit sales for any period between 9:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. the following day or between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on the days of Monday through Saturday".

This is something that will vary from place to place around the state, all depending on if a city decides to adopt such a rule or not.

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Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper - TSM Duluth