Walz names state cannabis office leader
Erin DuPree is the first leader of Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management.
Courtesy photo
It's been legal to consume cannabis recreationally in Minnesota since August 1. Today, Gov. Tim Walz picked Erin Dupree to lead Minnesota’s new Office of Cannabis Management.
The St. Paul resident owns a CBD shop in Apple Valley, which she will give up to take the new job.
Dupree has her work cut out for her. She will oversee the rulemaking that will be the foundation of legal marijuana sales in Minnesota. MPR News reporter Mark Zdechlik shared the details with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: It's been legal to consume cannabis recreationally in Minnesota since August the 1st. Today, Governor Tim Walz picked Erin DuPree to lead Minnesota's new Office of Cannabis Management. The Saint Paul resident owns a CBD shop in Apple Valley, which she'll give up to take this new job. DuPree has her work cut out for her. She'll oversee the rulemaking that will be the foundation of legal marijuana sales in Minnesota.
Mark Zdechlik is here now to tell us a little bit about DuPree and what's ahead for her. Hey, Mark.
MARK ZDECHLIK: Hey, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: When does this new marijuana czar start work?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Cathy, Erin DuPree says she'll be on the job a week from Monday, and that's October 1 already. She said she's shutting down the CBD business that she started last summer so she can focus on that Office of Cannabis Management and the work of getting a retail adult-use marijuana market up and running in Minnesota.
ERIN DUPREE: We have to have processes and policies in place before we can even consider doing licenses. The law made it so that the Office of Cannabis Management has to go through a rulemaking process, so that needs to happen first, but it is a priority.
CATHY WURZER: So what's the governor's office saying about her qualifications?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Well, they say that DuPree's front line experience of working in hemp and cannabis industries is a big plus. They're also, Cathy, pointing to her work as a business consultant. And they say that she has a more than two decade track record of successfully launching, managing, and growing businesses and other organizations. So they say she's a very good fit for this big job that she now has.
CATHY WURZER: It's going to be a big job, yeah. So some Indian reservations in the state already selling marijuana, but we don't really know when the widespread off-reservation retail sales will begin, right?
MARK ZDECHLIK: That's correct. DFL State Representative Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids guided this big law through the House. He says he thinks it'll be 2025 before retail outlets begin opening across the state, given all the rules that need to be put in place, and then the licensing and all of the rest.
ZACK STEPHENSON: First of all, you're standing up an entirely new government agency, figuring out who should fill key roles, and kind of establishing the basics of how this new agency is going to work, establishing the culture of this new agency. There's a lot that goes into that. And a lot of that's critical to the overall success of the mission. And then all of the policy goals of cannabis legalization are at stake here.
MARK ZDECHLIK: And, Cathy, one of those goals is to help people from populations that were disproportionately targeted for marijuana law violations before legalization on August 1. Again, here's the new director of cannabis management, Erin DuPree.
ERIN DUPREE: You know, the war on drugs had a hard, unfortunate situation for a lot of communities of color. And this is a chance to right some wrongs. And honestly, that's one of the things I'm most excited to do.
CATHY WURZER: OK. So, Mark, Erin DuPree is the first hire, obviously, for this new Office of Cannabis Management. So how many people will she have to hire for her team?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Cathy, she says that she's eventually going to have 150 employees, so she has a lot of work to do. They will all be charged with overseeing all marijuana use in Minnesota, including medical marijuana, adult-use recreational marijuana, and then also regulating those CBD products that many people have seen in the stores.
ERIN DUPREE: Really, the biggest challenge is mobilizing a group of people that are all headed in the same direction. That's a hard question to talk about because I am just getting started. I don't even have an office yet. But we know that some of the challenges that other states have had, we're going to try to avoid. Being the 23rd state to legalize, we're lucky enough to look back on the other 22 states, see what has worked and what hasn't worked.
CATHY WURZER: OK, so she got the job. Do we know what Governor Walz was looking for as he tried to fill this position?
MARK ZDECHLIK: The job posting kind of had a lot of usual stuff on it, saying they're seeking a director to guide efforts around compliance, licensure, social equity, and relations with other levels of government. Minimum qualifications, Cathy, included eight years of professional experience in regulatory oversight, public administration, and other comparable services.
At least two years must have been in high management role. They want a manager, someone with experience on that. Knowledge of the cannabis and hemp industries was also listed as key. Other requirements included strong writing skills and public speaking skills because this new director will kind of be the face, presumably, of this new recreational marijuana law.
CATHY WURZER: Right. So what do we know about the other applicants? Anything?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Not a lot. We know that about 150 people applied for the job and that the field was narrowed quite a bit before Walz interviewed finalists and made the selection of DuPree. We know the salary for the job is up to $151,000 a year. We also know, thanks to my colleague Brian Baxter on this part, that DuPree met with state lawmakers last night about the marijuana law and spoke with them about what kind of legislative refinements might be needed in the 2024 session. So she is hitting the ground running, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Mark Zdechlik, thank you.
MARK ZDECHLIK: You're welcome.
Mark Zdechlik is here now to tell us a little bit about DuPree and what's ahead for her. Hey, Mark.
MARK ZDECHLIK: Hey, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: When does this new marijuana czar start work?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Cathy, Erin DuPree says she'll be on the job a week from Monday, and that's October 1 already. She said she's shutting down the CBD business that she started last summer so she can focus on that Office of Cannabis Management and the work of getting a retail adult-use marijuana market up and running in Minnesota.
ERIN DUPREE: We have to have processes and policies in place before we can even consider doing licenses. The law made it so that the Office of Cannabis Management has to go through a rulemaking process, so that needs to happen first, but it is a priority.
CATHY WURZER: So what's the governor's office saying about her qualifications?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Well, they say that DuPree's front line experience of working in hemp and cannabis industries is a big plus. They're also, Cathy, pointing to her work as a business consultant. And they say that she has a more than two decade track record of successfully launching, managing, and growing businesses and other organizations. So they say she's a very good fit for this big job that she now has.
CATHY WURZER: It's going to be a big job, yeah. So some Indian reservations in the state already selling marijuana, but we don't really know when the widespread off-reservation retail sales will begin, right?
MARK ZDECHLIK: That's correct. DFL State Representative Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids guided this big law through the House. He says he thinks it'll be 2025 before retail outlets begin opening across the state, given all the rules that need to be put in place, and then the licensing and all of the rest.
ZACK STEPHENSON: First of all, you're standing up an entirely new government agency, figuring out who should fill key roles, and kind of establishing the basics of how this new agency is going to work, establishing the culture of this new agency. There's a lot that goes into that. And a lot of that's critical to the overall success of the mission. And then all of the policy goals of cannabis legalization are at stake here.
MARK ZDECHLIK: And, Cathy, one of those goals is to help people from populations that were disproportionately targeted for marijuana law violations before legalization on August 1. Again, here's the new director of cannabis management, Erin DuPree.
ERIN DUPREE: You know, the war on drugs had a hard, unfortunate situation for a lot of communities of color. And this is a chance to right some wrongs. And honestly, that's one of the things I'm most excited to do.
CATHY WURZER: OK. So, Mark, Erin DuPree is the first hire, obviously, for this new Office of Cannabis Management. So how many people will she have to hire for her team?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Cathy, she says that she's eventually going to have 150 employees, so she has a lot of work to do. They will all be charged with overseeing all marijuana use in Minnesota, including medical marijuana, adult-use recreational marijuana, and then also regulating those CBD products that many people have seen in the stores.
ERIN DUPREE: Really, the biggest challenge is mobilizing a group of people that are all headed in the same direction. That's a hard question to talk about because I am just getting started. I don't even have an office yet. But we know that some of the challenges that other states have had, we're going to try to avoid. Being the 23rd state to legalize, we're lucky enough to look back on the other 22 states, see what has worked and what hasn't worked.
CATHY WURZER: OK, so she got the job. Do we know what Governor Walz was looking for as he tried to fill this position?
MARK ZDECHLIK: The job posting kind of had a lot of usual stuff on it, saying they're seeking a director to guide efforts around compliance, licensure, social equity, and relations with other levels of government. Minimum qualifications, Cathy, included eight years of professional experience in regulatory oversight, public administration, and other comparable services.
At least two years must have been in high management role. They want a manager, someone with experience on that. Knowledge of the cannabis and hemp industries was also listed as key. Other requirements included strong writing skills and public speaking skills because this new director will kind of be the face, presumably, of this new recreational marijuana law.
CATHY WURZER: Right. So what do we know about the other applicants? Anything?
MARK ZDECHLIK: Not a lot. We know that about 150 people applied for the job and that the field was narrowed quite a bit before Walz interviewed finalists and made the selection of DuPree. We know the salary for the job is up to $151,000 a year. We also know, thanks to my colleague Brian Baxter on this part, that DuPree met with state lawmakers last night about the marijuana law and spoke with them about what kind of legislative refinements might be needed in the 2024 session. So she is hitting the ground running, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Mark Zdechlik, thank you.
MARK ZDECHLIK: You're welcome.
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