Minnesota cannabis store owners face testing backlog delays

Testing delays are constraining Minnesota retailers as the market scales, a day after a major lab closure.

FILE — statehouse · B.D. Gilfry / CC BY-SA 2.0

Store owners across Minnesota are reporting backlogs in cannabis product testing, according to CBS News. The timing suggests operational friction as the state's retail network expands—multiple new dispensaries have opened across the state in recent weeks, from Albert Lea to Forest Lake to Osseo.

The testing delays arrived just one day after a longtime Minnesota cannabis testing lab shuttered its program due to regulatory issues, per MPR News. With one established testing facility offline and others apparently overwhelmed, retailers attempting to stock shelves face a bottleneck that could limit inventory turnover as summer demand peaks.

Minnesota's market has grown sharply: recreational sales exceeded $50 million in the first six months of legal retail, and May sales alone hit $17.6 million. Watch whether the state regulator—set to hold a Mankato Q&A session this month—addresses testing capacity or expedites approvals for additional labs.