On Monday, November 18, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board released two new proposed policies governing the use and sale of cannabis/THC products on park property, opening a 60-day public comment window for feedback on the proposed drafts.
While personal marijuana use has been legal in Minnesota for over a year, the state is still crafting rules and processing applications related to dispensaries, meaning the drug won’t be widely commercially available until some point in 2025.
The proposed new policies seek to anticipate that change by establishing a framework that regulates the sale and use of cannabis/THC products in a manner roughly similar to alcohol and tobacco.
The first of the two policies is an amendment to the Park Board’s existing tobacco policy, redrafted to include cannabis products. Tobacco products, whether smoking, vaping, or smokeless, are banned in any form, with the exception of ceremonial use.
By contrast, “THC products” are banned only if they produce vapor or smoke, meaning that THC beverages and edibles are apparently legal to consume on park property under the new proposed policy. As for enforcement mechanisms, the Park Board has opted for a soft approach, at least initially.
Says the new policy: “Park staff, including Park Police, will help inform the public of the new policy, and warn those violating this policy that they will be asked to leave the park/facility should they fail to stop…” The policy then states that Park Board staff will “monitor compliance” for the purpose of determining whether a future ordinance will be needed.
The second proposed policy governs the sale of THC products on park property. Consistent with the overall ban on smoking, the policy is drafted to permit only the sale of THC beverages and edibles, and those products are limited to no more than 5mg of THC potency per serving.
Any THC concession vendors must first obtain a license from the State of Minnesota before they can obtain a contract or permit to operate on Park Board property. THC products obtained from such a vendor can be consumed only in a designated area, although “grab and go” purchases are allowed, provided they are not consumed outside of designated areas. This latter point will likely create some enforcement tension with the separate tobacco/cannabis policy, which appears to allow THC beverages and edibles to be broadly consumed throughout the park system.
Similarly, THC products may be purchased from permitted vendors as a “secondary component” to public events, but any such purchases must be consumed in a designated area.
Apart from shorter, early-in-the-day events (i.e., races), any public events featuring cannabis service will also require security supervision by the Park Police. Public comment on both cannabis policies is now open through January 21, 2025. Links to the full texts of the policies and a Park Board survey on the subject can be easily found by typing “Minneapolis Park Board cannabis public comment survey” into your web browser. The policies themselves are clearly still in draft form; one section, related to public events, reads in full: “Designated area (language from Cannabis policy) – grab and go allowed – consume needs to be in the designated area.”
