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The city of Anoka is taking the plunge into Minnesota’s recreational cannabis market with the opening of its new dispensary, making it one of the first municipal operations in the country and the first in the state.

Anoka Cannabis Company held a soft opening on Thursday to cannabis industry insiders. The store is now stocked with cannabis flower, gummies, beverages and pre-rolls. The store is located in a 3,000 square foot building on 839 East River Road, next to the city’s municipal liquor store.

“This is truly a historic day,” Mayor Erik Skogquist said. "Our residents want safe, vibrant and well maintained communities, while keeping taxes as low as practicable. The Anoka Cannabis Company allows the city of Anoka to do just that."

More than 50 people from Minnesota's cannabis industry attended the opening.

The shop is already fully booked for their online reservations this weekend. Starting Monday, the shop will be open to walk-in customers.

Kevin Morelli, city manager of liquor and cannabis operations, said the dispensary is sourcing its supply from Prairie Island Indian Community and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Anoka intends to use the revenue from the cannabis store to potentially help fund city parks and reduce the tax levy.

Morelli expects it'll be busy for the coming months. 

“We hope to be busy,” he said. “There's not many open and again, we want people to come here and just keep coming back. We want to build loyalty."

some of the first government-run cannabis dispensaries in the U.S.

Jeffrey Milford of Dalbo drove about a hour to buy product from the city's dispensary, which he said is the closest cannabis shop to him. He uses cannabis to help with his chronic back pain.

"I don't want to be on opiates and everything, and this is a really safe alternative. I haven't had a drink of alcohol in over 13 years, and it's about time,” he said. “It's a safe opportunity, a safe product. I've heard it's safer than taking a tablet of aspirin. So yeah, it's long time coming. It's good."

The shop is believed to be one of the only government-run dispensaries currently operating in the country. But it’s not the first of its kind.

In 2015, the city of North Bonneville in Washington opened a city-operated cannabis retail store that eventually closed down in 2021.

“Although the store did better in the larger market, sales never exceeded break-even status, negating the promise of a financial windfall for the city,” North Bonneville Mayor Brian Sabo told MPR News in March 2024.

While some cities are still months out from opening cannabis shops, others have abandoned plans.

Jacqara Jackson is a city employee from Elk River and manager of Cannabound, Elk River's dispensary, which has now been put on hold. She came out to show support for Anoka.

“I’m really happy Anoka opened today because they will not only be pioneers to to kind of help see how cannabis is thriving, but in a city setting,” she said. “So that will make more cities maybe feel like they have something to model off of and see how that grows as they make decisions."

Twelve other cities applied for a retail cannabis license with Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management. Anoka was the first to break ground on a cannabis store last May and will be running the shop on the city’s own.

Some cities like Osseo and Mounds View are still finalizing a location. Both are partnering with businesses to handle day-to-day operations.

In Osseo, Voyager Cannabis Services will operate a dispensary located in a building previously occupied by a local newspaper. City administrator Shane Mikkelson said the goal is to open by the summer.

“We’re getting to some final design areas and then it’s hiring contractors and things like that,” he said. “So that’s not quite there yet but I’d say within the next month or so, we’ll be getting our ducks in a row as far as getting the building ready.”

want to open government-run cannabis dispensaries

Osseo does not operate a municipal liquor store and sees the cannabis store as a way to lower taxes and make improvements throughout the city. In Mounds View, the city is still in the process of closing on a property and will work with its partner to potentially open a dispensary by July.

For the city of St. Joseph, it’s still a waiting game for licensure. Mayor Adam Scepaniak says their cannabis shop is ready to open but the Office of Cannabis Management still hasn’t issued a retail license.

“We have everything decided and figured out already. We’re just waiting on the OCM. Everything is hung up, waiting on them,” he said.

At least two cities have halted plans to operate a dispensary. City administrator Cal Portner says Elk River’s initial plans were to rebuild one of the city’s municipal liquor stores and use an adjacent space for a cannabis operation.

But city council members decided in December they no longer wanted to pursue a dispensary, citing public health concerns and uncertainty about the state’s adult-use cannabis rollout.

“From my perspective, this council has spoken — they have no interest in moving forward,” said Portner. “Councils change, and that doesn't stop a future council from going a different direction at another point in time.”

The city of Buffalo has also put a pause on a cannabis shop indefinitely. City administrator Taylor Gronau says city officials lost interest.

“As soon as we learned that we couldn't set it up like a franchise municipal liquor store, and once we were we became aware that there's private interest in opening cannabis dispensaries, it lost the appeal," he said.

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Nicole Ki

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The city of Anoka held a soft opening for its new dispensary, Anoka Cannabis Company, on Thursday. It’s believed to be one of the only city-operated cannabis stores to open in the U.S. since a city in the state of Washington opened a dispensary back in 2015.

Anoka opens Minnesota’s first government-run cannabis dispensary, one of few of its kind in country

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