As Expected, Minnesota OCM Gets Sued Over Implementation of Social Equity License Application Process
August, 2024 - United States of America
As reported in Marijuana Moment last week, the timing of the automatic expungement process made it difficult (if not impossible) for some people with arrests to obtain proof of their status as social equity applicants for the upcoming preapproval lottery. The problem is that documentation to meet the OCM’s requirements for establishing a cannabis conviction and receiving social equity verification has been deleted as part of the expungement process created by the very statute that established the social equity verification process.
The OCM is aware of this issue and they claim it tried to assist applicants navigate the verification process. “We provided guidance and a number of ways that potential applicants could go about retrieving official records if they did not retain them from the time of their conviction,” the agency stated. “We instructed CSI, Inc., to work with applicants who expressed document challenges to the greatest extent possible, including offering suggestions ranging from reaching out to former attorneys, parole officers, court offices, and financial institutions that might have records of court transactions that could be used to corroborate a prior conviction.”
But if an applicant was unable to locate their records, even if they were deleted as part of the expungement process, the OCM left them out of this round of licensing. “Unfortunately, some individuals were simply unable to locate and provide the documentation required by state statute to demonstrate their prior conviction,” they stated. “As the office is unable to supersede or waive requirements spelled out in state statute, there is no available mechanism to appeal an absence of required documentation. We have raised this issue with legislators who are evaluating a possible legislative solution for next session.”
Pretrial Adjudication Program
The Marijuana Moment article also detailed the difficulties Wes King, an aspiring social equity applicant, was having in obtaining social equity verification because he had entered into, and complied with, a pretrial stay of adjudication program that resulted in probation but no conviction. Mr. King is understandably frustrated that two programs designed to help individuals harmed by the War on Drugs are working in contrast with each other. His decision to enter into a stay of adjudication “means is that if it didn’t result in a conviction that means all these pre-trial diversions and stays of adjudication and stays of imposition with order to vacate or dismiss, all of us who did right by the court and successfully completed probation are disqualified because it resulted in a dismissal,” King said.
Sponsors of the cannabis statute that selected convictions as opposed to arrests as the line of demarcation supported the decision. Senator Lindsey Port said, “we had to draw the line somewhere, that was the most obvious, clear line that we could draw.”
Wes King’s Lawsuit
The article also detailed Mr. King’s intention to file a lawsuit seeking “to stay completion of the social equity certification process and the lottery until his concerns with the program are resolved.” True to his word, Mr. King has now filed that lawsuit. In the lawsuit, Mr. King raises issues related to his inability to obtain records because of the expungement process and stays of adjudications not being sufficient to satisfy the social equity criteria. He attached an email from Senator Port that implies she did not know that stays of adjudication were insufficient for social equity verification and that she’s “looking into it.” Mr. King seeks a stay of the application lottery process until his case is resolved. It is an interesting lawsuit, and its outcome could have a serious impact on the Minnesota cannabis industry.
Those who recently submitted applications for the upcoming preapproval lottery should follow this suit closely. David Standa ([email protected]) continues to follow the Minnesota cannabis industry closely. Feel free to contact him directly with any questions about the status of Mr. King’s lawsuit, the upcoming preapproval lottery, or steps to be taken by license winners in the future.
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