MN’s Medical Marijuana Program Is in Dire Need of Cash

Minnesota’s medical marijuana program needs more money to operate. The Office of Medical Cannabis has requested more than $500,000 over the course of two years to meet minimal financial requirements to operate the program. The funds would aid in enforcing and upholding regulations.

he funds requested would help regulate state inspections and lab testing, according to ABC News.

Representative Pat Garofalo said, “This is new for everybody, the government, the patients and the businesses included. It’s to be expected that there would be some bumps in the road.”

The program receives roughly $1.4 million annually to cover operations costs. Regulators cover their costs by charging the manufacturers an annual registration fee. The annual fee was increased from $94,000 to $146,000, which is in an effort to avoid raising the cost for patients to purchase their medicine.

The patient registry has a lot of bugs in it, and the state needs funds to fix it. Software licensing also costs money. Traveling to conduct inspections costs money.

Michelle Larson, director of the state’s medical marijuana program, said, “I don’t think anyone thought about us having eight cannabis centers statewide. Our annual cost is a little bit more than folks thought it would be.”

Garofalo plans to propose legislation that would allow marijuana businesses to write off business expenses on their state tax returns.

Chief executive for LeafLine Labs, Andrew Bachman, fears that his company will lose money again this year.

Bachman said, “It’s about normalization. Cannabis is medicine, is thousands for Minnesotans now.”