Legal marijuana hits historic milestone in Minnesota

Minnesota marijuana week one recap

The first week of marijuana being fully legal in Minnesota saw several firsts throughout the state. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard has the recap.

(FOX 9) - It’s been a monumental week for marijuana enthusiasts and for a couple of Minnesota tribes that are offering the only legal sales inside the state for now.

A celebratory shout kicked off the first day of legal recreational marijuana sales at Native Care on Red Lake tribal land.

"I got a couple pre-rolls of Hella Jelly, I think," said Alysha Benson, who made the trip from Fridley.

The dispensary is more than 200 miles outside the Twin Cities Metro, but hundreds of people made the trip from all across the state on Day One.

Native Care got so busy they had to shut down online orders by day two of legal sales.

Legal marijuana lit up the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis Tuesday as smokers came out of the shadows and into public places — like the "Legalized It" concert at First Avenue.

"Glad that it’s finally ok now," said a smoker outside the iconic venue.

But even with the new law, you can’t just light up anywhere you want.

The rule of thumb is that if you can’t smoke cigarettes somewhere, you can’t smoke marijuana either.

Minneapolis parks are an outlier, where marijuana smoke could cloud the trails for now.

"I mean if it’s like a whole smoky corridor that could not be so comfortable," said Patty Diamond as she circled Bde Maka Ska.

And the new law has created some confusion.

Law enforcement shut down a Mahnomen tobacco shop’s marijuana sales not far from where White Earth Nation opened its legal dispensary Thursday.

And Faribault police seized 22 immature plants from a tent sale Tuesday.

The sellers claimed the plants don’t have enough THC to be illegal, but police say labeling indicated they were marijuana plants.

For now, you can grow up to eight pot plants, but nobody can sell them, except at the tribal dispensaries.

Seed sales are now legal and they’ve already become a popular item at stores across the state.

For now, Red Lake and White Earth have the only legal dispensaries, but a few other tribes have indicated they’re planning to get into the business before too long.

The state won’t issue retail licenses until early 2025.