John Reitmeier opened Canna Corners in East Grand Forks, Minn. with his business partner two years ago in anticipation of this moment to sell recreational cannabis flower.
But now Reitmeier and associate Casey Hammer are up against 148 other applicants to see if they will be one of two retailers selected during a lottery later this month.
“Glancing at some of the applications that came in, it looks like they came in from all over the country,” said city clerk Megan Nelson.
The city will review applicants before the lottery Aug. 21, held in city council chambers. Nelson said the majority of applicants — more than 100 — came in Wednesday, the last day the application window was open. She added some were local applicants, like Canna Corners.
Reitmeier takes issue with his local business being on equal footing with larger companies that have never stepped foot in Minnesota, let alone East Grand Forks.
“The whole thing with Minnesota getting cannabis was the fact that it was supposed to be for the mom-and-pop Minnesota residents,” he said. “If we knew right away that we were up against unlimited money from Chicago, St. Louis and New York, we would have never done this. We’ve got our heart and soul in this business.”
Josh Collins, spokesman for the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), said Minnesota couldn’t limit out-of-state applicants.
“States that attempted to limit licenses to in-state businesses ran afoul of the Commerce Clause [of the Constitution] and those provisions were struck down,” Collins said in an email. “Knowing that, Minnesota’s cannabis law did not attempt to limit out-of-state businesses to our market.”
