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CHRONICLING LEGAL CANNABIS IN MINNESOTA

By Matt DeLong

In this week’s Nuggets: Fire breaks out at White Earth Nation’s cannabis operation; what Minnesota’s THC drinkers should know about the U.S. ban; how much recreational weed can Minnesota’s medical cannabis providers grow?; Minnesota lawmakers pen op-eds on hemp ban, cannabis businesses; transport bottleneck has budding Minnesota cannabis dispensaries stuck in first gear; Osseo signs contract for municipal pot store; Office of Cannabis Management adds list of cannabis licensees to website; and a long-awaited weed-themed sandwich shop opens in Minneapolis next week.

Fire breaks out at White Earth Nation’s cannabis operation: Crews contained a blaze Tuesday at White Earth Nation’s cannabis facility that forced evacuations over concerns of a potential explosion, reports Kim Hyatt of the Minnesota Star Tribune. The tribe’s cannabis company, Waabigwan Mashkiki, has its flagship dispensary located off Hwy. 59 in Mahnomen, Minn. Adjacent to the dispensary is a processing facility that local officials said contains hazardous material like butane. Read more.

What Minnesota’s THC drinkers should know about the U.S. ban: Don’t panic, THC makers and sellers say, as federal prohibition of the popular hemp drinks is still a year off and will be fought, the Star Tribune's Chris Riemenschneider reports. Read more. (Gift link.)

Related: Walz says he is “exploring” how to address federal hemp ban

How much recreational weed can Minnesota’s medical cannabis providers grow? Now that they are licensed as medical cannabis combination businesses, the two companies that were contracted to supply cannabis products to patients enrolled in Minnesota’s medical marijuana program – Vireo Health and Green Thumb Industries (GTI) – are also permitted to cultivate adult-use cannabis. The law allows businesses with this license type to grow up to 50% of the square footage (referred to as plant canopy) of medical cannabis they cultivated in the previous year as medical cannabis. For example, if a business maxed out the 60,000 square feet of medical cannabis plant canopy allowed by law in one year, the following year it would be permitted to cultivate an additional 30,000 square feet of recreational marijuana. 

However, neither company is close to maximizing its medical canopy, according to letters provided by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). Vireo’s total medical cannabis canopy is listed as 35,265.6 square feet and the company is allowed to cultivate up to 17,632.8 square feet of recreational cannabis. GTI’s total medical canopy is 23,040 square feet, allowing it to grow up to 11,520 square feet of plants for adult use. The OCM only counts space containing mature, flowering cannabis plants when calculating total canopy area, as Minnesota regulations require.

Minnesota lawmakers pen op-eds on hemp ban, cannabis businesses: MinnPost published a pair of opinion pieces from Minnesota elected officials on cannabis-related issues this week. DFL U.S. Rep. Angie Craig argues that the federal government should provide “regulatory clarity and market structure for a growing industry” rather than upending the hemp market. In a separate piece, state Reps. Robert Kupec, DFL-Moorhead, and Nolan West, R-Blaine, suggest employee stock ownership plans could help ease the tax burden for licensed cannabis businesses, which are prohibited from deducting many of the expenses other businesses write off.

Transport bottleneck has budding Minnesota cannabis dispensaries stuck in first gear: Minnesota doesn’t have many transporters licensed to move cannabis, contributing to short supplies across the state, Brian Arola reports for MinnPost. Read more.

Osseo signs contract for municipal pot store: “On Nov. 24, the Osseo City Council solidified its commitment to working with Voyageur Cannabis Services to help run the city’s future municipal retail cannabis business located in the former Osseo Press building at 33 Second St. NE.,” Alicia Miller reports for the Osseo-Maple Grove Press. Read more.

OCM adds list of cannabis licensees to website: The OCM is now updating its website weekly with a current list of cannabis license holders, so we will stop publishing the new ones here each week. The OCM has issued 97 cannabis licenses to date, and the newest batch includes the first two wholesaler and two more transporter licenses. The office has also licensed 33 lower-potency hemp edible retailers as of Thursday, though that list has not yet been released.

Is your licensed adult-use cannabis retail store open or opening soon? Let us know! We are tracking all the locations in Minnesota where consumers can purchase recreational marijuana products with this free map, which we are updating regularly. If you know of any additional locations that are open for business with adult-use products on the shelves, or one that is opening soon, please use the form below the map to let us know. 

Long-awaited weed-themed sandwich shop opens in Minneapolis next week: “After years of false starts, Cheba Hut will open on Dec. 8 in Uptown,” Dustin Nelson reports for Bring Me the News. Read more.

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Nico in Woodbury submitted this freshly trimmed Strawberry Popesicle bud from Night Owl Seeds. Thanks for sharing!

Homegrowers, show off your plants! Share your best photo with us by clicking the button below and we'll publish one each week in Nuggets. By submitting a photo you affirm that you own the rights to it and you are granting permission to the Star Tribune to publish it on its platforms.

Dec. 12 (Fri.): CanRenew Grant Informational and Technical Assistance Session - "The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will host an informational webinar to guide prospective CanRenew grant applicants through the request for proposals process." Virtual, registration required. Noon-1 p.m. More info.

Dec. 13 (Sat.): Christmas at the Brownstone - "Join us for an elevated evening of music, community, and compassion as we close out the ElevateMN Christmas Compassion Toy Drive in style." 5-10 p.m. Brownstone Jazz Club, 1420 W. 28th St., Minneapolis. More info.

Dec. 17 (Wed.): Canna Connect w/ Metrc Panel & Holiday Party - "A panel discussion on seed-to-sale essentials featuring Metrc and how it affects all MN licensees." 5-9 p.m. Steady Pour, 2125 E. Hennepin Av., Suite 205, Minneapolis. More info.

Got questions about cannabis? 

Send them to us and we'll do our best to answer as many as we can in future newsletters.