‘A historic thing’: Duluth dispensary is first state-licensed microbusiness to sell cannabis
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More than two years after recreational cannabis was legalized in Minnesota, the first state-licensed microbusiness dispensary opened in Duluth on Tuesday.
About 30 people were lined up outside Legacy Cannabis in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood when founder and consultant Josh Wilken-Simon opened the doors just a bit after 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon — the unusual starting time a cheeky reference to the cannabis culture inside joke.
“Hey everybody, thanks for coming out, from the bottom of my heart,” he said to cheers and applause.
Legacy Cannabis joins tribal cannabis dispensaries, which have been selling their own recreational cannabis for over two years, and the state's two medical cannabis companies, which begin selling recreational cannabis this week.
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“It’s a historic thing,” said Wilken-Simon, who started the business as Legacy Glassworks in 2010. “We aim to help remove the stigma around cannabis by fostering a welcoming environment rooted in education, respect, and community.”
Allie Caban was one of the customers in line. She recently moved to Duluth from New Jersey— in part, she says, to legally buy cannabis.
“And I’m really excited to be here today, because now we can actually just smoke comfortably in our own town,” she said. “For me, I struggle with POTS disease and also fibromyalgia, so this is in the way for me to be able to spend time with my kids, or to work a normal job or to help people in the community.”
Inside the store Caban selected from several different strains of cannabis flower, with names like “Meat Sprinkles” and “Girl Scout Fungi.” But she settled on a product dubbed “Purple Alien Breath.”
“I think that one just sounds so magical for this moment,” Caban told the sales clerk.
Legacy Cannabis is selling products grown by the White Earth Nation’s cannabis business Waabigwan Mashkiki, which means ‘flower medicine’ in Ojibwe.
The business grows cannabis in a 50,000 square foot indoor facility, which it uses to supply the White Earth Nation’s on-reservation dispensary, as well as retail stores in Moorhead and St. Cloud.
The White Earth Nation also sells wholesale cannabis to the Prairie Island Indian Community and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe for their dispensaries.
Legacy Cannabis in Duluth is the first state-licensed business to sell cannabis grown buy a tribal supplier like Waabigwan Mashkiki. But it won’t be the last, said CEO Zach Wilson.
“Everybody and their brother’s reaching out, needing and wanting supply. I get hit up three to five times a day,” said Wilson. “We are trying to do our best to work with as many as we can with what inventory we have. We don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver on volume with the kind of numbers we’re expecting the state to do.”
The market in many states that have legalized cannabis is dominated by large retailers, said Wilken-Simon. Minnesota legislators gave a head start to so-called “microbusinesses,” which are allowed to cultivate cannabis, manufacture it into products like edibles, and sell it at retail stores.
As of Tuesday, the state’s Office of Cannabis Management has approved 37 cannabis business licenses, 23 of which are for microbusinesses that plan to offer retail sales, including Legacy Cannabis. State officials say while other micro-retailers have also opened, the Duluth storefront is the first to acquire cannabis product to sell.
But Wilken-Simon expects many others to quickly follow suit. He equates it to the early days of the craft beer market, when brewpubs exploded around the state.
“So it's not just about us, It’s about a small Minnesota craft cannabis community and saying no to corporate cannabis, saying no to these big multi-state operators,” he told the crowd outside his store.
Meanwhile, as retail sales of recreational cannabis are poised to take off in Duluth and around the state, public health officials in northeast Minnesota are rolling out an education campaign called “Speaking of Cannabis” that encourages adults to talk to teens about the risks of cannabis.
“We’re not here to tell people they shouldn’t use it,” said Maggie Myers, substance misuse prevention educator for St. Louis County. “But our highest risk group is our youth. And the risk for the normalization of products when they become legal changes that perceived risk for kids. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it’s safe.”
The campaign urges people to understand how cannabis can affect young, developing brains, and to encourage adults to safely store their cannabis products where kids can't get it.
Back at Legacy Cannabis in Duluth, 62-year-old Tamaye Ceannaideach said it’s nice to have more places to legally buy cannabis, without fear or hassle.
“It’s not the gateway drug. It’s not the devil’s weed. It’s great medicine. It’s always been great medicine. We should have it available to us,” she said.
