An overview of Minnesota’s cannabis industry in 2024 and what to expect in 2025
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It continues to be a slow roll for Minnesota’s legal recreational marijuana business.
Ahead of the new year and the start of another legislative session, reporters Dana Ferguson, Hannah Yang and Melissa Olson joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer with updates on the budding enterprise.
Legal speedbumps and roadblocks in 2024
There have been some surprises as Minnesota developed a frame work for the new industry.
A lot of attention focused on a planned social equity applicant lottery in November to give select entrepreneurs a head start, but the issue ended up in court.
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Some people denied access to the lottery sued over being excluded, arguing they met the parameters outlined in state law. In turn, state regulators said some applicants tried to game the system by applying on behalf of business groups that might not otherwise be eligible. Ultimately a Ramsey County judge halted the lottery.
Earlier this month, the Office of Cannabis Management announced it will hold two lotteries in 2025: one for social equity applicants and one for other applicants seeking permits for cannabis businesses.
In the meantime, the OCM is scaling up its team. Just recently it posted four high-level positions around communication, finance, government relations and planning — and the office is hoping for quick hires. There are no plans right now to switch from an interim director.
When might Minnesota see widespread dispensaries?
On the OCM’s current timeline, the first licenses won’t be approved until May or June. After that, it will take business owners anywhere from weeks to months to get up and running. In all likelihood, the first businesses to open will get off the ground in late summer or early fall of 2025. That’s two years after it became legal to possess, use and grow cannabis in the state.
It’s important to note that timeline is tentative. There could be other hiccups that crop up along the way, or possibly action from lawmakers to speed things up.
Do lawmakers plan to take action in January?
The lawmakers who wrote the legislation initially legalizing cannabis have been quiet about whether they want to streamline its industrialization in Minnesota. They were frustrated by the Ramsey County judge’s ruling halting the November lottery, saying the decision blocked the early license opportunity for applicants previously harmed by the legal system. Lawmakers reconvene on Jan. 14, and MPR News will be on the lookout for updates, as well as for a ruling in an appeal of the Ramsey County decision.
How are tribal nations navigating the evolving market and rules?
When cannabis was legalized in Minnesota, the law made room for compacts, or agreements, between the state and the 11 tribal nations in the state around medical cannabis and adult-use recreational cannabis.
The state and each individual tribal nation can choose to enter into an agreement and all parties stand to benefit from those compacts. In theory, that could lead to tribes providing wholesale supplies of cannabis to dispensaries statewide, or even setting up dispensaries outside reservations.
For example, the head of the cannabis company owned by the White Earth Nation recently confirmed the tribe purchased a building in Moorhead for a dispensary.
In an email to MPR News in mid-December a spokesperson for the Office of Cannabis Management reported the state is close to signing compacts with several tribal nations, though did not reveal which. Those compacts include how the state will tax tribal nations for the sale of cannabis products to a licensed wholesaler or dispensary. The OCM representative believes those compacts could be signed by the governor in the coming weeks.
How are individual communities preparing for the new business?
Each city has its own set of rules and policies they created based on what they think is best for their community. For example, Mankato is taking a more cautious approach to cannabis by limiting the number of high-potency retailers to just four; there’s no cap on smaller businesses setting up shop.
Mankato city officials tell MPR News they’re concerned about what enforcement of these rules will look like since each jurisdiction is different. They’re seeking guidance ahead of the retail market opening in Minnesota, and they want clarity about what happens if someone violates the law. Cities can revisit these rules in the future, but Mankato officials say they’re waiting to just see how things go in the first year of cannabis sales in the community before considering further action.
City officials in Le Sueur, meanwhile, say the cannabis industry aligns well with their existing agribusiness and think it will lead to positive economic development. The Minnesota Valley Cannabis Company purchased the former Green Giant building there to process cannabis. However, they can’t move forward with renovating the facility until the state hands out licenses, so the lottery delay put the company in limbo.
Could tribal grow facilities meet demand amid delays?
The OCM believes tribal nations will likely have the capacity to grow enough cannabis flower to help support the state’s commercial market. The tribes already own and operate several large grow facilities around the state.
The newest grow facility is owned by Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures — the business entity owned by the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe. This fall, the company completed the construction of a 50,000-square-foot grow facility on tribal land near Onamia.
There’s also a growing intertribal cannabis marketplace. For example, Waabigwan Mashkiki, a cannabis business owned by White Earth Nation, operates a large grow facility and dispensary. It also sells cannabis products to dispensaries owned by the Leech Lake reservation and the Prairie Island Indian Community.
What about Red Lake Nation’s mobile dispensary?
Red Lake Nation elected officials told MPR News their long-discussed mobile dispensary is up and operating. It’s a pop-up unit akin to a food truck. It’s been stationed in the communities on Red Lake Nation including Ponemah, Redby and near the casino on Hwy 89. Since Red Lake Nation has trust lands in Warroad and Thief River Falls, the mobile dispensary could stop there, too. Red Lake also hopes to build a brick-and-mortar dispensary in Thief River Falls.