Charlene Briner will step down as director of the Office of Cannabis Management, according to an announcement from the governor’s office this week, with General Counsel Eric Taubel serving as director for the time being.

Briner’s resignation comes after repeated halts to the cannabis industry’s launch, which was intended for this month but is now slated for early summer. The office was created in August 2023 following the Minnesota Legislature legalizing recreational marijuana and is responsible for overseeing Minnesota’s new regulated cannabis market.

Charlene Briner.

“Charlene Briner has gotten Minnesota’s emerging cannabis industry off the ground in a safe and responsible way,” Walz said in a statement. “It’s no easy task to build a regulatory framework around an entirely new industry from scratch, but under Charlene’s leadership, Minnesota laid the foundation for a successful marketplace for years to come.”

Taubel served as the Office of Cannabis Management’s general counsel for the last year and oversaw the drafting of cannabis regulations and tribal compact negotiations.

He will assume the interim director role after Briner’s last day on Jan. 17.

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