ALBERT LEA, Minn. (FOX 9) – The first retail cannabis shop in Minnesota to pass inspection now has a cannabis retail license, but it will still take time before the Albert Lea shop is open for business.
READ MORE: Blazing a trail: Cannabis business licenses have started
Meet one of Minnesota’s likely cannabis retailers
Jacob Schlichter, owner of Smoking Tree in Albert Lea, could be one of the first in Minnesota to get a license to sell recreational marijuana. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard caught up with him on Thursday.
First Minnesota cannabis retail licenses
Big picture view:
While the Smoking Tree in Albert Lea is allowed to open immediately, owner Jacob Schlichter says it might take a couple of days or weeks before he has any product to sell.
Schlichter is a social equity microbusiness owner, so he only plans to have one store.
Minnesota has issued four licenses for micro-businesses so far, according to the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
More than two years after the state legalized recreational cannabis, businesses are finally getting off the ground and, for the first time, they’re ready to open off tribal land.
The Smoking Tree
The backstory:
This was not Schlichter’s original plan, even though he was in the office when Gov. Walz signed legalization into law.
“Actually, I was just happy to be there,” he said.
A friend’s overdose on hard drugs convinced him that legal cannabis could be a better option.
Family and friends talked him into pursuing a business, partly by highlighting the good he could do with the profits, especially if he got in early.
“I think it would be just amazing to go from all the cannabis propaganda that we’ve had for many decades to now people in the cannabis industry are building libraries, building schools, and just overall upgrading their communities,” Schlichter said.
Cannabis business in Minnesota
What’s next:
On Tuesday, July 22, the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will hold a license lottery for combined general and social equity cannabis retailer license applicants.
In June, the OCM’s cannabis license lottery provided 249 license lottery winners a path toward opening their own dispensaries, with most being social equity applicants previously harmed by marijuana laws.
The winners joined nearly 400 microbusinesses in the final stages of approval that will still need to fulfill final requirements at their city or county levels, as well as have a final inspection by the OCM before opening.
But a reported 527 applicants were still left empty-handed and will look to secure licenses in the second lottery.
Applicants in the lottery can watch for their license application number to be drawn as part of the live lottery feed.
READ MORE: Minnesota cannabis retailer license lottery to be held next week
Slow burn
Dig deeper:
From turmoil over who will head the agency, to its application site crashing on the eve of its deadline, Minnesota’s recreational cannabis industry has been marred by setbacks since becoming legal in August 2023.
By the time dispensaries officially open for Minnesotans, state officials will have overseen one of the slowest roll-outs in the nation.
While non-tribal entrepreneurs still wait for statewide approval, White Earth Nation announced its tribal-owned, off-reservation retail stores in Moorhead and St. Cloud.
The Source: This story uses information gathered from the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management and past FOX 9 reporting.