Heated public testimony as committee considers HF 2,426 to protect medical market and adjust medical–adult-use rules; A-one amendment adopted, bill laid over

Representative Nolan West moved House File 2,426 before the committee April 2 and the committee adopted the author's A-one amendment before taking public testimony on the bill. The bill and amendment address continuity of the medical cannabis market as Minnesota opens adult-use sales, adjusting canopy limits, supply-chain rules, and related operational permissions for "medical-combination" license holders.

Representative West said the amendment and bill aim to preserve medical patient access while allowing a viable market structure for both medical and adult-use commerce. He described changes including lowering a canopy cap to 60,000 square feet (from an earlier 90,000 number discussed in negotiations) and removing a strict ratio that had required significantly greater canopy for medical product relative to adult use. "The goal here is to relieve some of that burden and ensure that the medical companies can still operate in a viable way so that we can maintain a medical market for the patients who need it," Representative West said.

Medical operators, patient families and unions testified in support of HF 2,426 as necessary to keep established medical suppliers viable and to protect patients who depend on consistent product supply. Tiffany Newburn Johnson of Leafline Labs/Green Thumb Industries said the bill would help the company's ability to serve about 55,000 medical patients it reported serving annually and avoid program fragility as adult-use sales begin. Kim Kelsey testified on behalf of her son, describing long-term medical cannabis reliance and urging support to maintain patient access.

Opponents — including applicants for micro and mezzo licenses, small-business owners, and social-equity advocates — said the bill would create an uneven market advantage for large, incumbent medical operators. Dr. Clement Dabney, a social-equity micro-business applicant, opposed the bill and said it would "dramatically reshape Minnesota's emerging cannabis marketplace, stacking the deck against small businesses like mine before we've even had the chance to compete." Several speakers raised concerns that uncapped or large medical-combination licenses would undercut the craft-focused market structure established in 2023 and disadvantage thousands of recently filed license applicants.

Labor representatives and union leaders including Diana Tastadamer (United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189) supported the bill's unification of the supply chain and noted potential job losses if medical companies were forced to scale back operations.

The committee recorded the following formal actions: adoption of Representative West's A-one amendment to HF 2,426 (voice vote), and laying HF 2,426, as amended, over for additional work and markup. Committee chairs and co-authors signaled they would continue negotiations and invited stakeholders to provide further recommendations at the forthcoming markup.