MANKATO — Financial penalties for selling cannabis and low-potency hemp products to minors will be the same in Mankato as for selling alcohol to underage drinkers.
The Mankato City Council adopted the fees — $500 for a first violation, $1,000 for a second offense within 36 months and $2,000 for a third violation in that three-year period.
Three strikes will also bring a 30-day suspension of a retail license.
The penalties will apply to violations of annual compliance checks both for the limited number of cannabis shops in Mankato but also for the dozens of retailers ranging from supermarkets to gas stations to liquor stores selling hemp-derived THC products.
The fines, which are technically civil penalties, match those for illegal sales of alcohol by bars, restaurants and off-sale locations such as convenience stores and liquor stores. A third strike within three years doesn’t bring an automatic license suspension or revocation for alcohol sellers, but it does trigger a review by the City Council, which can pull the license temporarily or permanently.
The city also does compliance checks using underage buyers for sellers of tobacco, vaping devices and other nicotine products. Penalties for violations of the tobacco rules are $300, $600 and $1,000 for first, second and third offense, respectively, within a three-year period. A third strike brings an automatic seven-day license suspension under Minnesota law, although the council can impose a harsher penalty and has doubled the suspension in recent cases.
For sellers of cannabis and hemp-derived low-potency THC products, an additional $2,000 penalty can be imposed by the city for each violation if the seller has not registered as a retail seller of those products.
The state of Minnesota actually handles the licensing of cannabis retailers under legislation passed in 2023 legalizing sales to customers 21 and older. But lawmakers left cities and counties with the responsibility of conducting compliance checks each year to penalize those selling to underage buyers.
That’s why Mankato requires sellers to register with the city, according to City Clerk Renae Kopischke.
“We need to do the enforcement, so we need to know where they are,” Kopischke said.
The setting of the cannabis penalties provided Council member Michael McLaughlin an opportunity to once again highlight state lawmakers’ sleight-of-hand with a special sales tax on cannabis products.
The original law legalizing pot established a 10% tax with a fifth of the tax proceeds distributed to cities and counties to help cover the cost of their cannabis-related regulatory duties. Two years later, during budget negotiations in the waning days of the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers decided to boost the tax to 15% and take all of the revenue for the state’s coffers.
“The state passed the law to legalize it and also passed the law that we have to enforce it, and then repealed the law where they share some of the tax revenue with for doing things like enforcement,” McLaughlin said.