There are 51,000 people registered in Minnesota’s medical marijuana program, and there’s growing concern that new rules for obtaining a license to grow and sell both recreational and medicinal marijuana could jeopardize the medicinal program.

Maren Schroeder is a consultant and lobbyist for Blunt Strategies and has worked with state regulators as well as businesses in the medical marijuana program.

Schroeder told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that current businesses that want to grow and sell products for recreational and medicinal use are facing economic challenges that could force them to pull out of the medicinal marijuana program.

“I think we’re going to see the large operators forced to pull out,” said Schroeder. “They would have to put up a pretty large risk in order to grow cannabis for medical cannabis because if it didn’t sell as medical cannabis, it would have to be destroyed.”

Schroeder said that for every single cannabis plant growers produce for recreational use, they have to produce two plants for the medical marijuana program. And, Schroder added, those same business licenses require growers to separate their recreational product from their medicinal product, which is not cost-effective.

“Cannabinoid products cannot be done together,” said Schroeder. “They can use the same equipment, but they have to run a medical batch, stop, clean, and then run an adult-use batch. It’s just incredibly inefficient.”

Patrick McClellan is a medicinal marijuana patient. He told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the larger producers would not want to cover those expenses and, if they pull out of the program, medicinal marijuana could collapse in Minnesota.

“People with ALS, people with cancer, people with muscular dystrophy like I have, should really be getting their medical advice from a doctor and from a pharmacist,” said McClellan. “We lose the high-potency medications, we lose housing protections, we lose employment protections, hospital protections, and we get higher prices.”

Schroeder and McClellan said they are working with state lawmakers to adjust the rules and keep the medicinal marijuana program viable.