Anja Wuolu anja.wuolu@apgecm.com 12/13/2025
Golden Valley is expected to have any number of licensed, cannabis-selling businesses next year.
The newly formed Office of Cannabis Management has controlled a lot of the licensing process, but cities have a role to play too. Minnesota is the 23rd state to legalize recreational cannabis use for people 21 and older.
Cities cannot ban cannabis retailers but officials may limit the number of cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and sale licenses based on population. They can also make zoning requirements like adding buffers around youth-oriented facilities.
In Golden Valley, cannabis retail businesses will need to pay fees of up to $500 for licenses and $1000 for license renewals. Some tax revenue from cannabis sales will go to cities.
In Golden Valley, businesses will need to have a 500-foot buffer around youth-oriented facilities. Youth-oriented spaces refer to areas like playgrounds, athletic fields and schools. Open park spaces are not considered youth-oriented.
The idea is to regulate cannabis usage in a way that is similar to tobacco usage.
"Given that the tobacco process, for those of you who recall, in this city was very long, very thoughtful, very engaged with retailers, members of the public, with the health department, with the county and very data-driven," Council Member Gillian Rosenquist said. "It makes a lot of sense to follow the compromises we came forth with for tobacco when dealing with these products."
Based on Golden Valley's size, the city could limit the number of businesses to just two retailers. However, the city has chosen not to limit the number of cannabis businesses in favor of economic business.
Council Member Maurice Harris said that the new state laws have made for "a very confusing two years and a half years dealing with cannabis, THC," but these updated ordinances are "a great first step, hopefully a last step."
Council Member Sophia Ginis and Mayor Roslyn Harmon supported the updates.
Rosenquist noted that "what happens at the state is something that we have to follow, and this is our effort to find a quality compromise."
Council Member Denise La Mere-Anderson spoke against cannabis as a whole but supported the updates from city staff and the Planning Commission.
"If there's an opportunity for economic development and business, we need to provide those opportunities," she said.
However, she added, "I personally am not supportive of the legalization of things that cause addiction and substance use disorder."
La Mere-Anderson said although it's not in her power, she would love to "overthrow the Office of Cannabis Management."
Coping with addiction
Randy Anderson, spouse of council member La Mere-Anderson, has been a person in recovery from addiction for nearly 20 years. His drug addiction was primarily cocaine. He went to jail and credits law enforcement and interventions with saving his life.
"If I was still using, I'd be dead," he told the Sun Post.
After two decades, Anderson has become well-established in the recovery field. He is on the Minnesota Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy and has his own training, education and workforce development organization, Bold North Recovery and Consulting. It has a focus on "building, growing and sustaining the substance use disorder peer recovery workforce in Minnesota and beyond."
Anderson fears that the new cannabis businesses in Golden Valley will make it harder for early-in-recovery folks to remain sober.
"In my early recovery, even just seeing [cocaine] on television was triggering for me," Anderson said. "I had to use coping tools to manage that feeling. But I remember feeling like my pulse would increase, my temperature, body temperature would rise like I could feel my physical triggers happening. Thanks to treatment, I was able to identify those and cope and manage those, but that's got to be the same thing with any drug."
Since cannabis was made legal for recreational use in 2023, Anderson said he has observed more smells of marijuana while driving along Interstate 94 and even from people he works with. When businesses start popping up, it could be more difficult for people who experience addiction. Anderson said he works with alcoholics on how to go from home to work while avoiding the liquor store. For people addicted to cannabis, avoidance is getting harder.
"We're seeing more people in sober homes and even in treatment programs that are saying, 'Well, I can use cannabis now because it's legal.' Not necessarily in the program or right in the house, but they're using it and then coming back under the influence or [smelling like] marijuana, which is then triggering to the other patients or clients or residents."
Anderson spoke about his sister, who used a variety of substances. At one point, she cut out everything except marijuana.
"I remember her thinking that she could just smoke weed, and she'd be fine when she quit doing the other drugs, such as heroin and meth, and then she'd start smoking weed, and it would lead her right back to her other drug use."
Tragically, Anderson's sister died from her addictions. Anderson's mother and stepfather passed away a few months later, also from various addictions.
Generally, Anderson has supported the decriminalization of drug users but laments the broad legalization and commercialization of marijuana. He wishes Golden Valley would've limited the number of marijuana businesses to two, and he wishes the state would've allowed cities to opt out of accepting licenses.
Anderson described cannabis today as "an addiction-for-profit industry," preying on people who are vulnerable.
Anderson cited Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
"The greatest mortality from drugs comes from legal drugs. The moment you make a drug legal, you’re going to increase the number of people who get exposed to it, and therefore you increase the negative consequences from its use. When you legalize, you create an industry whose purpose is to make money selling those drugs. And how do you sell it? Mostly by enticing people to take them and entice them to take high quantities."
Now that "the horse is out of the barn" and marijuana products are legal, Anderson asks that lawmakers put potency caps on products.
According to an article published in The JAMA Network, "Market factors may drive the industry to continue developing novel products, which could present additional health risks. Applying regulatory controls to market-driven innovations in potency and additives is key."
The CDC on marijuana
The Centers for Disease Control states more research is needed to determine the health impacts of cannabis effectively. However, there are some preliminary observations.
Cannabis can be addictive.
The CDC states that "People who use cannabis can struggle with physical dependency and controlling their use." Also, it states that 3 in 10 who report using the drug have a cannabis-use disorder.
Addiction is more likely to start with younger people and people who use it more often.
"The risk of developing cannabis use disorder is greater in people who start using cannabis during youth or adolescence and who use cannabis more frequently," the CDC states.
In one cited study published in the National Library of Medicine, people aged 12-18 were compared to people aged 22-26. The younger folks showed a greater risk of cannabis dependency.
Cannabis can negatively impact a person's physical health.
Lungs can be damaged by smoking. Additionally, cannabis products can "make the heart beat faster and raise blood pressure." It can also "lead to increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and other vascular diseases."
Cannabis impacts a person's brain, "specifically the parts of the brain responsible for memory, learning, attention, decision making, coordination, emotions, and reaction time."
There are negative mental health impacts, too.
"Cannabis use has been linked to social anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia," the CDC states.
More education and research
In 2019, Smart Approaches to Marijuana said there was a misconception about how safe it is to drive after using cannabis. People are not always aware of the dangers of driving while impaired.
Per the Minnesota Department of Health: "Driving under the influence of drugs, including cannabis, is dangerous and illegal."
Anderson was also concerned about children accidentally eating edibles, which come in packages that sometimes look like candy.
According to an article published in The JAMA Network, "US poison centers are increasingly receiving calls about adverse events associated with exposures to manufactured cannabis products. Higher rates in legal states suggest that continued increases may be expected with adult cannabis use legalization in more states."
CNN last year reported, "in just five years, the number of small children in the US exposed to cannabis after accidentally eating an edible rose 1,375%."
Packaged edibles can make children sick. Advising parents of young children to avoid buying edibles, or perhaps locking up those edibles, might be a good measure.
When asked about medical marijuana, Anderson supported it with caveats.
"Do I believe that it'll help some people with certain ailments? Absolutely." However, he pointed out that medical marijuana is not treated the same as something like blood pressure medicine, which has medical trials and traditional science attached. "That doesn't exist with medical marijuana. You have a budtender."
In 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a study that bemoaned the lack of scientific data for cannabis.
"Despite the extensive changes in policy at the state level and the rapid rise in the use of cannabis both for medical purposes and for recreational use," the study reads, "the conclusive evidence regarding the short- and long-term health effects (harms and benefits) of cannabis use remains elusive. A lack of scientific research has resulted in a lack of information on the health implications of cannabis use, which is a significant public health concern for vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and adolescents.
"Unlike other substances whose use may confer risk, such as alcohol or tobacco, no accepted standards exist to help guide individuals as they make choices regarding the issues of if, when, where, and how to use cannabis safely and, in regard to therapeutic uses, effectively." https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_post/news/local/golden-valley-will-not-limit-number-of-cannabis-businesses/article_e4eb69c8-b754-11ef-8804-2f3c88bf3b3a.html
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