The Prior Lake City Council voted unanimously to prohibit the operation of cannabis businesses in the City at its regular meeting Monday night. The vote means Prior Lake has a moratorium for anybody pursuing the establishment of a cannabis business in the city until Jan. 1, 2025, which is the maximum timeframe allowed under current state law.

The State of Minnesota is currently in the process of establishing an Office of Cannabis Management to regulate and license the sale of cannabis. Meanwhile, beginning Tues., Aug. 1, 2023, cannabis can be legally used in Minnesota.

“The office to regulate marijuana won’t even be set up for another year and a half,” explained Zach Braid, Prior Lake City Councilmember. “Leaving counties and municipalities to spend taxpayers’ dollars to draft ordinances.”

One of those ordinances City Council passed at its July 17 meeting, again unanimously, is prohibiting the use of cannabis in public to include smoking, vaping, and edibles. Use of cannabis in public will be a petty misdemeanor, the maximum penalty allowed under state statute.

“This is a two-page ordinance that cost us thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees,” described Kevin Burkart, Prior Lake City Councilmember. “This is just the beginning of the unfunded mandates from the State related to this, I would encourage staff to take notes as what these costs are moving forward.”

Burkart and other city leaders explained their frustrations that cities like Prior Lake are now burdened with the costs of regulations and licensing of cannabis without any extra funding or assistance from the State to help offset the costs.

This led to yet another vote, again unanimous, to require the sale of THC or low-dose edibles to be licensed by the City. The City’s existing moratorium on these products that was established last August expires on July 31. The current legislation does not allow municipalities to extend their moratoriums on low-dose edibles. When Prior Lake put its moratorium in place a year ago, the thought was that the State, during its legislative session, would include a mechanism to regulate and license the products. That did not happen. Prior Lake does not have the control or authority to regulate the products, test them, check for potency, etc., but it can license who sells the products.

“We are in this timeframe where nobody is licensing these products,” explained Jason Wedel, Prior Lake City Manager. “So, we would be establishing a licensing process that includes an application and a background check.”

More information about a Prior Lake business license to sell certain cannabinoid products will be available on the city’s website, priorlakemn.gov, by Tues., Aug. 1.

Starting Aug. 1, those 21 and older will be allowed to possess or transport in public up to two ounces of marijuana, eight grams of cannabis concentrate and edible cannabis products containing up to 800 milligrams (about the weight of a small paper clip) of THC. They can also possess up to two pounds of marijuana in their homes. Additionally, an individual will be able to grow up to eight plants with no more than four being mature and flowering at the same time. Plants may be grown indoors or outdoors, but they must be kept in an enclosed, locked space that is not open to public view.