Cannabis Ordinance Passes in St. Louis County

County Commissioners Prepare for Commercial Cannabis

DULUTH, Minn. – St. Louis County is preparing for commercial cannabis, passing an ordinance establishing regulations at Tuesday’s meeting.

County commissioners heard public comment Tuesday on Ordinance #68, which aims to regulate in-public use and create an infrastructure for zoning and licensing requirements of cannabis businesses.

In a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner Ashley Grimm voting opposed, the “Cannabis Ordinance” will go into effect on January 1, 2025. We reached out to Commissioner Grimm to ask why she voted opposed but have not received a reply as a publish.

Solway Township’s Chairman, Ronald Gajewski, said that the ordinance is needed to prepare the county for commercial cannabis sales, which may be a reality sooner than people think.

“It may be a situation where it’s going to be implemented more quickly than later,” Gajewski said after the ordinance passed. He said prospective cannabis businesses have already expressed interest in the area. “We had an inquiry in our township in the last two weeks, from somebody out of the Twin Cities … and the kinds of things they were looking for is that they would like a ten-acre plot of land to put up, like a 420 by 440 building.”

A press release about the ordinance said the county will distribute three retail cannabis licenses, in line with state requirements which state there’s to be one license for every 12,500 residents. The ordinance will also restrict cannabis shops from being within 1,000 feet of schools or 500 feet of a licensed daycare.

View St. Louis County’s Ordinance #68 at the PDF link below:

St. Louis County Draft Cannabis Ordinance

UPDATE 11/26/2024 (9:12 pm) – Commissioner Ashley Grimm replied to request with the following statement about her opposition vote to the ordinance, “Among my concerns are the petty misdemeanor charges that would be given to people on all public land for cannabis use. These include around a million forested acres which would pose no public health risk.”