Agreements with the state authorized two medical dispensaries to sell some of their existing medical marijuana to recreational customers while other retailers struggle to secure supply.
Minnesota cannabis entrepreneurs say they are confused and angry after the two companies that serve patients in the state’s medical marijuana program were allowed to immediately start selling recreational pot earlier this month.
Many cannabis businesses licensed by the state are still unable to buy recreational marijuana to sell. But medical cannabis providers Green Goods and Rise, which between them operate 16 dispensaries, have established supply lines that have handed them an early corner on the Twin Cities recreation market. That’s thanks to little-publicized agreements with the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
Mark Eide, owner of In-Dispensary in downtown Minneapolis, said he is struggling to keep his doors open with no product to sell more than six weeks after receiving a microbusiness license. Eide said he would have made different choices if he had understood that he would immediately have to compete with a Green Goods store just blocks away.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Eide said. “I feel like the state of Minnesota and those in charge of the cannabis program lied to us.”
Minnesota cannabis entrepreneurs say they are confused and angry after the two companies that serve patients in the state’s medical marijuana program were allowed to immediately start selling recreational pot earlier this month.
Many cannabis businesses licensed by the state are still unable to buy recreational marijuana to sell. But medical cannabis providers Green Goods and Rise, which between them operate 16 dispensaries, have established supply lines that have handed them an early corner on the Twin Cities recreation market. That’s thanks to little-publicized agreements with the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
Mark Eide, owner of In-Dispensary in downtown Minneapolis, said he is struggling to keep his doors open with no product to sell more than six weeks after receiving a microbusiness license. Eide said he would have made different choices if he had understood that he would immediately have to compete with a Green Goods store just blocks away.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Eide said. “I feel like the state of Minnesota and those in charge of the cannabis program lied to us.”
By Matt DeLong, The Minnesota Star Tribune