Pot license applications being reviewed, approved

The CNMI Cannabis Commission is right now reviewing a total of 12 applications for commercial licenses and nine licenses for homegrown marijuana have already been approved and the commission expects to entertain more applications, according to managing director Monique Sablan.

In her presentation during the Rotary Club of Saipan’s meeting at Hyatt Regency Saipan’s ballroom yesterday, Sablan highlighted the potential of the marijuana industry even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a later interview, Sablan said it’s interesting to see that there are still a lot of people who are applying for licenses during this time with COVID-19.

“Imagine that we’re in the pandemic, and we have an economic issue going on, where both the public and private sectors have been suffering. But being able to see local entrepreneurs and off-island investors still want to invest in an industry here in the Commonwealth is really tremendous to see,” she said.

She expects to see the cannabis industry to take off in 2021 if there’s already no COVID-19 at the time. “So let’s say we didn’t have COVID this year, like everything is normal and fine. I would project a higher number of revenue coming in,” she said.

Sablan said they’re doing their part to ensure that they accommodate not only applicants, but also make sure that they’re in compliance with the law and regulations.

For the commercial cannabis licensing or businesses, the 12 applications are still being processed and reviewed, she said.

“We anticipate more,” Sablan said, adding that she has been meeting with other potential applicants to assist them with the application process.

She said there is an application fee and a license fee, which amount varies depending on the class.

Sablan said the application fee is non-refundable.

“But you don’t pay the licensing fee until you’re approved for the license. So that is not until it’s been completely reviewed by the commission,” she said.

From the 12 applications, Sablan said they’ve already collected over $10,000 in revenue since they had the official launching of applications for homegrown and commercial licenses last Aug. 4. She said they started receiving applications beginning September.

“What I’ve been doing is I assist anyone who’s interested in meeting and wanting to learn more about how to apply. I sit with them and we go over the different processes,” Sablan said.

For homegrown license applications, nine have been approved so far, but there are more other applications that are coming in, she said.

For the homegrown, Sablan said an annual fee is very cheap at $75. “So with $75, you are able to have six mature marijuana plants over time and 12 immature marijuana plants. So 18 total.”

There are different limits for commercial licenses.

Sablan said they are also working with the Commonwealth Zoning Office and Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation to draft a bill that would help them resolve the complications or obstacles that they’ve been facing. Sablan said the zoning authorization is only for Saipan applications.

She said all Saipan applicants for cannabis commercial licensing need zoning authorization.

The managing director said the zoning authorization has to be received by going through the conditional use permitting process, which requires a public hearing.

“And I believe zoning only hosts a public hearing once or twice a month and only has limited available slots for the public hearing,” she said.

Sablan said there are interests from Tinian and Rota for commercial, but nothing that has resulted into an application yet.

For homegrown, Sablan refused to discuss whether they have applications from Tinian and Rota.