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ST. PAUL 鈥� All 249 cannabis businesses that won in the state鈥檚 first cannabis lottery last week were mistakenly informed on Monday, June 9, that they were not selected for a license.

According to Minnesota鈥檚 Office of Cannabis Management, a staff member sent the wrong email notification to the winners of Thursday鈥檚 lotteries. The email said they did not get a license.

鈥淭he message was corrected and sent to all selected applicants within one hour,鈥� Jim Walker, OCM public information officer, said in an email.

The corrected message congratulated winners for securing their license and provided next steps, including completing a criminal background check.

Winners of the lottery last Thursday won a license to conduct business in Minnesota鈥檚 new cannabis market, pending completion of the licensing process. Monday鈥檚 email could have been interpreted as saying the winners failed the process.

Abbey Johnson was one of the 74 who won a retail license and received the confusing chain of emails.

鈥淚 was shocked to see that,鈥� said Johnson, who owns two hemp stores in Lakeville and Dundas. 鈥淚 was like, maybe I got the numbers wrong. I don鈥檛 know how I could have made that big of a mistake when I鈥檝e been waiting two years, but I could have, you know, and I looked and I had the right number. And so immediately started freaking out.鈥�

She called two of her friends who also got retail licenses in the lottery. They both got the same email. Johnson contacted the cannabis agency, and within an hour or so, she said she got an email saying OCM had made a mistake.

Johnson says she understands human error, but it has real consequences for her business.

Johnson has been waiting to get the reward letter from OCM to give to the cities where her hemp stores are located, and one of those cities has a limit of five licenses.

鈥淭hey should just be better at their job or something by now,鈥� she said. 鈥淓verything鈥檚 riding on them doing their job when I have absolutely zero faith that they鈥檙e going to continue to do their job.鈥�