Marijuana is legal in Minnesota Aug. 1, here’s what you need to know – Twin Cities – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

In less than a decade, Minnesota has gone from complete prohibition of cannabis to being on the cusp of having three distinct markets — low-dose hemp, medical and adult-use.

It is the latest example of how states are now embracing as medicine and a recreational intoxicant something that is still considered illicit by the federal government. By the end of this decade, cannabis in Minnesota is expected to be a more than $1.5 billion a year industry.

There’s still a lot of work to do to make that a reality.

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, Minnesota will become the 23rd state where cannabis possession and recreational use for residents 21 and older is legal under state law. Yet Minnesotans won’t be able to buy things like full-fledged cannabis flower or gummies for another year and a half because state officials need to create the oversight apparatus to issue licenses so dispensaries can open.

Charlene Briner is helping to get the new state Office of Cannabis Management up and running while Gov. Tim Walz decides on who will be the permanent director. Briner says the rules and regulations the state will put in place over the next 18 months will focus on insuring medical patients can continue to get the medicine they need and that communities most harmed by prohibition will be a priority in the new legal market.

“There’s been disproportionate harm to certain communities from prohibition,” Briner said of why the Legislature decided to make possession legal well before a sales…