Hellmuth & Johnson attorney Carol Moss shared her cannabis law knowledge with Minnesota Lawyer in the article, “Legal Questions Persist as THC Products Spread in Minnesota.” Minnesota’s legal cannabis law, which took effect in July, allows the sale of some food and drink products with small but intoxicating levels of hemp-derived THC, creating some gray areas for employers, employees, consumers, and businesses.
“The wacky way that Minnesota has written its law put it really in a great and interesting position,” said Moss. “Minnesota is the only state in the country in which you can go into a restaurant and get a THC-infused beverage with your pizza. There might be some local city ordinances that prevent such, but under Minnesota law there are many bars in Minneapolis that are selling THC-infused drinks, and that’s not allowed in any other state. Most other states you have to go to a big dispensary to get any kind of THC products.”
No manufacturing regulations are in place for production of THC products, Moss said. Once products contain cannabinoids, or chemicals derived from cannabis, they’re no longer considered food, so companies don’t have to have the license otherwise required to sell food and beverages in the state and aren’t subject to inspections. “I have clients who are manufacturers and I tell them, get your (standard operating procedures) in line, act as if you’re going to get a knock on the door from an inspector at any moment regardless of whether that’s going to happen,” Moss said. “Eventually there will be regulations in place and you want to make sure that you’ve got everything in place. And you don’t want people to be injured from your products.”