MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The race to be the state’s first licensed cannabis retailer should cross the finish line this week, one way or another.
Those groundbreaking sales will happen in either Duluth or Albert Lea, but getting a legal supply is the latest speed bump.
Cramped cultivation
Lining up:
Advocates asked the state to let cultivators get an early start on the market here, but they’re in line with everyone else now.
The Office of Cannabis Management has issued four licenses with retail endorsements, but for now they only have one place to go for legal weed.
The shelves and even the walls are still empty at Josh Wilken-Simon’s Lyn-Lake Legacy Cannabis location.
Next door to the artistic glassware and hemp-derived THC products, he’s hoping to open his retail shop around October.
A Woodbury location is further along, ready to open as soon as mid-August, but Wilken-Simon is also consulting on his brother’s Duluth retail shop, which may be the first to open under a state license.
"I expect that as one of the first statewide dispensaries in Minnesota, that there's going to be long lines and crowds," he said.
Puffing the pieces
Red tape puzzle:
The store got zoning approval, passed a state inspection, and got its retail registration from Duluth.
What it hasn’t gotten, though, is cannabis to sell.
The state has recently licensed five cultivators, but retailers aren’t expecting to buy from those businesses until this winter or later.
Tribes had a head start of up to two years, but for now, only White Earth Nation has a compact with the state allowing them to wholesale cannabis.
So Legacy’s opening date is likely this week, but it depends on White Earth’s supply.
"They are just kind of dotting their I's, crossing their T's to make sure that they're doing everything not only legal with the state of Minnesota, but legal with their tribal nation to be able to sell their cannabis products to a state-licensed store," Wilken-Simon.
Inhale inflation
The rollout:
Industry insiders say White Earth can supply 20–30 retailers as well as their own dispensaries in Moorhead and St. Cloud.
They also expect some other tribes to sign compacts and start wholesaling soon.
For now, though, retailers believe prices may be a little inflated since the only competition is the black market.
They say that should change by the time state-licensed cultivators bring their cannabis to market.