Cannabis lottery process draws fire

A planned lottery to give some would-be cannabis business owners a licensing head start won’t go forward early this week after a judge halted the process Monday.

Ramsey County District Court Judge Stephen Smith sided with a group of applicants who had been denied access to the social equity pre-approval lottery. They sued over a process they argued had lacked clear criteria and that left no room for appeals.

“There’s no lottery tomorrow,” Smith ruled toward the end of an hour-long online hearing. He said the state was free to file an appeal.

Ahead of the hearing, officials with the Office of C...