“Our liquor stores never fail compliance tests, whether for tobacco or liquor. We feel we can do the same thing within the cannabis industry.”
By Brian Arola, MinnPost
As some Minnesota cities fret over regulating newly legalized and normalized marijuana sales, others see an opportunity.
Elk River is among 13 Minnesota cities considering opening municipally owned cannabis stores. They would be blazing new trails in this regard, as government-run pot shops aren’t currently in use anywhere else in the country. City Administrator Cal Portner talks about Elk River’s approach as making the most of a situation.
“I don’t sense that our council is enthusiastic about the law to legalize, but they’re accepting of reality,” he said.
Revenue potential from cannabis sales, and how it can be put to use in the community, is part of the appeal. Assuring compliance is also part of it.
“Our liquor stores never fail compliance tests, whether for tobacco or liquor,” Portner said. “We feel we can do the same thing within the cannabis industry.”
The full list of cities applying to run municipal cannabis stores, according to the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), includes:
Anoka
Blaine
Buffalo
Byron
Elk River
Grand Rapids
Lauderdale
Mounds View
St. Anthony Village
St. Joseph
Osseo
Owatonna
Wyoming
Liquor munis as a model
The only state with any track record of a government-run cannabis shop is Washington, where a store in North Bonneville opened in 2015 and operated until 2021. Where Minnesota differed from Washington and other legalized-cannabis states was in the defined path it created for cities to pursue cannabis munis.
Despite being a new concept, Minnesota’s established muni model for liquor, also novel nationally, gives Portner confidence in the feasibility. Cities have entrepreneurial experience on their sides, he said, including already selling hemp-based THC products in liquor stores.
“We’ve had practice time basically to understand the products and understand the customer service side of it,” Portner said.
Municipal liquor sales add nearly $1 million to Elk River’s annual budget.
The city’s two liquor munis keep profits home, Portner said, rather than going to corporations based out of town or state.
“We’re among the top Minnesota liquor store operations within the state and are proud of that,” he said. “It puts a lot of money back in our community.”
Minnesota had 176 cities running liquor munis as of 2023, according to the latest annual report on them by the Office of the State Auditor. Most munis come out ahead, combining for $31.6 million in net profits in 2023. Elk River generated $962,190 of it. Buffalo brought in $710,505. St. Anthony Village was $426,385 in the positive.
Even modest net profits, say $10,000 per year, are good deals for small towns, said Paul Kaspszak, executive director of the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association.
“You could say it’s not very much money, but there’s nothing else happening in that community that will generate that $10,000,” he said.
In his hypothetical, 100 homeowners in the community could be looking at $100 in savings on their property taxes. In Elk River, Portner said it might take an additional 45 businesses in town to generate enough property taxes to equal net profits from city liquor sales.
Cannabis sales projections are highly speculative, but Portner said it’ll likely take a couple years to turn profits. Between investments in capital, inventory, marketing and education, an estimate prepared for the city in January put first-year losses at $184,698.
All but 18 of the state’s liquor munis are in Greater Minnesota. For cannabis muni applicants, seven of the 13 are in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.
St. Joseph’s mayor, Adam Scepaniak, and other officials from cities on the list confirmed they were still waiting on OCM approval to get their cannabis licenses as of last week. Plans are taking shape in the interim, with St. Joseph, Elk River and others looking into possible locations for cannabis retail.
Elk River is considering a building to house both cannabis sales and one of its two municipal liquor stores. Northbound would remain the name of the liquor muni, while the cannabis side would assume the name Cannabound.
Owatonna applied for a muni cannabis permit on March 13, said Deanna Sheely, the city’s communications manager, in an email. No decisions will be made on it until the license process is completed.
When Byron moved forward with an application in February, City Administrator Al Roder noted it didn’t bind the city to the idea.
“Applying for the license and even receiving one, doesn’t lock us into going ahead with a dispensary,” he stated on the city’s Facebook post. “But the window to apply for a license is very small.”
Wide spectrum of attitudes toward cannabis industry
As opposed to the 13 cities exploring cannabis munis, Albert Lea sits on the opposite end of the spectrum. A City Council vote last week stopped a privately run cannabis store from opening—an apparent violation of state statute. An update by the city posted on Facebook afterward described the vote being based on “questions of enforcement, liability and responsibility” necessitating further review.
Adopting zoning restrictions on where cannabis businesses are allowed, a lever given to cities in state law, is more of a middle-ground strategy. Combined with caps on the maximum number of businesses allowed to operate, almost all cities implemented some form of this approach or another.
The cap is an area of contrast between the state’s cannabis and liquor muni regulations. A city with muni liquor doesn’t need to allow private liquor stores within its limits, but it can’t monopolize cannabis in the same way. Muni cannabis stores don’t count toward the cap.
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[PRESS RELEASE] – BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 18, 2025 – Canopy USA LLC, a brand-driven organization strategically positioned across the fastest-growing states and highest potential segments of the U.S. cannabis market, announced the appointment of a new executive team responsible for driving the company’s next phase of expansion.
Drawing on extensive industry experience, these leaders will steer Canopy USA forward through a shared vision to elevate the company’s brand portfolio, enhance day-to-day operations and execution, and advance growth initiatives across multiple state markets.
Casey Rash, chief financial officer, will oversee centralized functions including finance, human resources and IT. Rash brings deep expertise in regulated industries and a strategic approach to driving organizational scale and efficiency.
Rebecca Kirk, chief operating officer, will lead the company’s operations, innovation and legal teams. Known for building scalable systems and launching category-leading products, Kirk will play a critical role in driving Canopy USA’s performance across its value chain.
Kelly Flores, chief business development officer, will be responsible for marketing, market expansion and product strategy. With a proven track record in cannabis commercialization, Flores will guide brand development and strategic growth initiatives in both existing and emerging state markets.
“These leadership appointments mark the start of a plan to capture growth in the U.S. cannabis market,” Canopy USA President Brooks Jorgensen said. “Within the best of each Acreage, Jetty and Wana, we’ve been aligning systems, teams and processes across markets to create a scalable, efficient organization. With our leadership team now in place, we’re moving forward with purpose.”
Canopy USA’s platform is built to deliver consistent quality, innovative products and trusted brands to consumers and retail partners nationwide. By combining deep market expertise with a focus on execution, the company aims to set the standard for growth and leadership in the evolving U.S. cannabis industry.
Adult-use cannabis sales in Washington state have been falling for five years, according to Department of Revenue data reported by KHQ.
First-quarter sales in 2025 reached $277 million, which is nearly $100 million less than the market’s peak during the pandemic in 2021. Based on current trends, annual cannabis sales this year could be the state’s lowest since 2019 after five straight years of declining sales in Washington.
Regulators attribute the decline to oversupply issues, which drive prices down and make it more difficult for licensees to turn a profit.
Officials with the state Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) recently announced the largest expansion of cannabis dispensaries since the market’s launch over a decade ago, offering up to 52 new retail social equity licenses.
Meanwhile, a report from the state’s legislative auditor found that “Washington businesses produced two to three times more cannabis than retailers sold in 2023,” and that “inaccurate and incomplete data” had hampered regulators’ capacity for “data-driven regulation.”
The auditcalls on the LCB to submit a plan to lawmakers by December 31, 2025, containing strategies to improve data accuracy.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Graham is Ganjapreneur’s Chief Editor. He has been writing about the legalization landscape since 2012 and has been contributing to Ganjapreneur since our official launch in…
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During an interview with Delaware Public Media, Gov. Matt Meyer (D) also discussed a conversation he had with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) about regulating the marijuana industry, drawing a contrast between their respective responsibilities given the fact that Colorado is much larger with more local jurisdictions to interact with compared to Delaware, which has just three counties.
Delaware’s adult-use cannabis market launched at the beginning of this month, but legislation awaiting Meyer’s action would make a key change related to local control of where marijuana businesses could operate. And the governor has indicated he’s still wavering on the proposal.
Asked about the fate of the bill from Sen. Trey Paradee (D), who also championed the state’s legalization legislation, Meyer said: “Stay tuned. You’ll hear soon. We will be taking action very shortly.”
“Listen, I have local government background. I don’t think it’s appropriate that, when state government likes local government regulation, they say, ‘Yeah, we support it,’” the governor said. “And when they don’t like local government regulation, they overrule it.”
“At the same time, it’s important for communities that this moves forward,” he said, referring to the implementation of the adult-use cannabis market.
The response didn’t clearly indicate where Meyer currently stands on the proposal, but he also said it’s “always on the table” that he could allow the bill to take effect without his signature.
“I was talking to Governor Polis of Colorado about marijuana regulation just the other day and he’s just like, ‘Just let the counties do it.’ He has too many counties to know,” Meyer said. “I was asking, ‘What’s the regulation of counties?’ He’s like, ‘I have no idea.’ He’s like, ‘Some do it, some don’t. I don’t really know.’”
The Delaware Public Media host said: “But he’s not going to run into the problem, though, where if there’s enough zoning laws, there’s literally no place to put the facilities. That’s probably not a problem for him.”
The governor agreed, saying “Colorado is much larger” with a “three-mile [zoning] limitation from schools,” which would be less feasible in the smaller state of Delaware. “We’re going to see what we can do,” he said.
On the topic of broader regulatory responsibilities, Meyer said the state is “very lucky” that the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner (OCM) is headed up by someone who comes from outside of Delaware who is “one of the leading thinkers on this issue.”
“He looks at it from a business and community aspect, whereas traditionally Delaware has looked at it as a public safety issue,” the governor said. For his part, Meyer said revenue generated from cannabis taxes is “clearly third” on his list of reasons to support legalization.
The first priority, he said, is ensuring that “communities are sustainable and they’re safe and they’re protected.”
“I think there’s a lot of concern in communities. I have small children. What are we doing? Do we want this thing all around our kids? I don’t know how many of you have been to New York or San Francisco lately, but you go outside and there’s that stench,” he said. “That’s not Delaware. We’re doing everything to make sure that we continue to retain the same communities we have.”
“We also have a historic obligation. Marijuana and marijuana enforcement in this state has not been equitable. There are people in our communities today, almost all Black and brown people, who have been imprisoned for years and years for using and selling marijuana, where people of different colors of skin have not had that same experience. We need to make sure we use whatever revenue we have to address that historic wrong going forward.”
“We’re continuing to watch and monitor to make sure communities are being protected as this economic opportunity grows and make sure people are safe,” Meyer said.
While marijuana revenue might be “third” on his list, the governor recently touted the state’s first “successful” weekend of adult-use cannabis sales, with total purchases for medical and recreational marijuana totaling nearly $1 million—and compliance checks demonstrating that the regulated market is operating as intended under the law.
Delaware’s first adult-use marijuana shops officially opened for business on August 1, with a handful of existing medical cannabis operators able to service consumers 21 and older.
Ahead of the sales roll-out, the governor last month toured one of the state’s cannabis cultivation facilities, praising the quality of marijuana that’s being produced, which he said will be the “French wine of weed.”
Dozens of other would-be retailers that have either already received licenses or are still awaiting issuance will need to wait for further regulatory approvals until they can open their doors—a situation that’s frustrated some advocates.
The idea is to identify any hiccups that lawmakers might need to address when they return for next year’s legislative session.
OCM initially projected that recreational sales would start by March, but complications related to securing an FBI fingerprint background check service code delayed the implementation. Lawmakers passed a bill in April to resolve the issue, and the FBI subsequently issued the code that the stat’s marijuana law requires.
A total of 125 licenses will ultimately be issued, including 30 retailers, 60 cultivators, 30 manufacturers and five testing labs. Last year, regulators also detailed what portion of each category is reserved for social equity applicants, microbusinesses and general open licenses.
The then-governor last year signed several additional marijuana bills into law, including measures that would allow existing medical cannabis businesses in the state to begin recreational sales on an expedited basis, transfer regulatory authority for the medical program and make technical changes to marijuana statutes.
The dual licensing legislation is meant to allow recreational sales to begin months earlier than planned, though critics say the legislation would give an unfair market advantage to larger, more dominant businesses already operating in multiple states.
The policy change removes limitations for patient eligibility based on a specific set of qualifying health conditions. Instead, doctors will be able to issue cannabis recommendations for any condition they see fit.
The law also allows patients over the age of 65 to self-certify for medical cannabis access without the need for a doctor’s recommendation.
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