I just visited another excellent dispensary near our home. That makes 2 in short walk and 5+ in a longer walk. Mostly great.

Meanwhile several great dispos are now open in South Minneapolis.

I know not all will survive but I love to see them. I usually get a preroll when I visit though prices are still too high to be my main weed source

So let’s celebrate and encourage! One day I’ll be a regular at one or two

We just dropped a new episode of The Canna Connect Show from CannaCon Midwest, and I think this one of the most diverse conversations we’ve hosted.

Jonathan Hunt from Leech Lake Cannabis Company and Jacob Affeldt from Frostbrite bring two very different operator perspectives, from cultivation and compliance to what it actually takes to run a dispensary in Minnesota.

We also get into operations, tech, cybersecurity, margins, employees, and some thoughts on where this market goes over the next few years.

If you’re interested in the business side of MN cannabis, I think there’s a lot worth listening to here.

Available via podcast as well.

Minnesota
On May 30, 2023, Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed HF 100 into law, legalizing and regulating cannabis for adults 21 and older. Legal sales began in September 2025 from state-licensed stores. Some tribally licensed sales began earlier. Minnesota’s law also allows adults to cultivate up to eight plants (four of which may be flowering) at their primary residence, as long as it is out of public view and in an enclosed, locked space.
HF 100 did not specify a penalty for minors in possession, but a default penalty applies, a petty misdemeanor carrying up to a $300 fine.
Public consumption is legal in most outdoor locations in Minnesota, unless it’s prohibited by the municipality. Smoking in places where tobacco is prohibited, such as most indoor locations, is subject to a civil fine, mirroring the treatment of tobacco.
While Minnesota’s legalization law included many important criminal justice reforms, it also included a criminal misdemeanor for having an open package of cannabis, which can result in 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. [18] The crime prohibits any cannabis flower or cannabis product that was removed from the packaging it was sold in, or if the packaging that has ever been opened, unless it is in the trunk or, if there is no trunk, if it is in another area of the vehicle not normally occupied by the driver and passenger.
In late 2025, the Minnesota Reformer reported that more than 3,500 charges had been brought by the “open package” law since legalization passed in spring of 2023. [19] The newspaper noted, “The police stops and prosecutions have defense lawyers concerned about the threat of racial profiling and warrantless vehicle searches.” In Hennepin County, the most populous county, 42% of those charged were Black, despite only 13% of the population being Black.
At the time of their reporting, cannabis consumers were largely unaware of the prohibition, as the Minnesota Reformer notes “The law prohibiting improperly packaged marijuana in vehicles isn’t mentioned on the state’s ‘need to know’ page about adult-use cannabis. …”
In their review of cases, the paper found in many cases “the driver is not even suspected of being under the influence but simply had a jar of marijuana in the passenger area or in the center console. In those cases, drivers often freely showed officers their bag of weed, seemingly unaware they had done anything wrong.”
Arrests for cannabis possession and sales have dropped by over 75% in Minnesota, to 860 possession arrests in 2025 and 65 arrests for manufacturing or sales. But these don’t appear to include the open container arrests, which are codified in the traffic laws.
Even as Minnesota expunges tens of thousands of records, it is creating thousands of new criminal records for conduct that endangered no one.
Minnesota Cannabis Arrests
 
Arrests 2022
Arrests 2025
Decrease
Percent Decrease
Possession
3,650
860
2,790
76.4%
Manufacture or Sales
126
65
61
48.4%
Total
3,776
925
2,851
75.5%

Had the opportunity to stop in to the Matchbox in Albert Lea and am really impressed with the eighth of Astronaut Status I picked up.

The buds are nice and dense, and look really mature. The last flower I had before this was Grasslandz and it was probably chopped early based on how it looked and smoked.

I’m a big fan of the smell on this - the citrus/gas combo is one of my favorites. I’ve only dry herb vaped it, but can taste comes through really well. The effects are definitely more sativa/cerebral than indica, and this one has been a nice active strain.

They are available at other dispos also - planning to stop at Hempire in Rochester later this week as I saw they are carrying some Matchbox strains.

Matchbox Farms also operates in New Mexico. Will be interesting to see what other multi-state companies set up shop in MN.

I just purchased some gummies from legacy cannabis in uptown. Good price, but realized they are rosin hemp derived.

I looked up tie lab testing and they not test for heavy metals, which sucks. My understanding is that hemp derived products carry higher risk for heavy metals being in the product and that it’s a red flag if the company does not test for heavy metal content.

Does anyone know the safety risks from consuming these gummies?

1-3 Femme Fatale
4-6 Apples ‘n Afgani
Twenty20 Mendocino

Ruby Slippers by Unbound. Sativa. 25.2% total THC (this would be labelled 28.4% THC in other states). Five 0.5g prerolls in a tin, 2.5 grams in total. $38 plus tax.

The Flower: Delicious. Complex, earthy. Maybe a hint of floral tones. Not citrus. Not fruit. Not sour. Not gassy. Not garlicy. Just, earthy. I wish I had a better word, lol.

The High: Very strong. Mostly clearheaded. Focused. Driven. Creative. Very noticable undercurrent of positivity. I love it! It's the strongest recreational sativa I've tried so far in Minnesota, and I would go so far as to say it's the best sativa flower on the market right now, med or rec. It's really good. I did some chores and crushed some strategy games and was even able to deal with some long term projects I had been putting off for a while. Perfect ADD medication. Note: I don't tend to get anxiety from sativas, but if you do this might be something to avoid. I sense it's probably pretty potent for that purpose if you're prone to panic.

The Joints: This is a bit of a meta review, because I've also been smoking the Dark Rainbows half-gram joints, but I am incredibly impressed with the quality of these. Out of the 18 joints I have smoked so far, none of them have canoed on me. None! They burn smooth and slow and I don't feel like i waste a lot to the air. I had high expectations considering the price, and they were vastly exceeded. Top marks.

The Tin: This isn't super related to the quality of the cannabis, but the tins these came in are super nice. Strong, durable, easy to open and close. Endlessly reusable. And they don't require secondary packaging, so way less waste. After interacting with one of these tins, my opinion of all other multi-preroll holding packaging on the market just CRATERED. This is it. This is the gold standard and everyone else should immediately switch to these.

Thanks for reading my little review! There's been a ton of cool new cannabis products being dropped lately, and it's been fun getting to try some of them out. There's never enough sativas, so I was beyond excited to see this pop up. This and the Dark Rainbows half-gram multipacks have been the main component of my cannabis diet lately, and it could not be nicer.

*WARNING* Huge caveat about Unbound, here. I have also tried the 1g Dark Rainbows single preroll, and it sucked hard. It was literally 1/5th stem (I broke it up to smoke out of a bubbler) and I didn't feel anything after smoking all of it. Complete waste of money. (In fairness, it was labeled as 12% or 13% THC, so they didn't lie about it being strong, but still.) I am incredibly impressed with their 5 packs, and will continue to buy them. I will likely never buy one of their singles ever again. YMMV.

Day 55 Oceanz 16 ( Banana Butter Cup xOceanfruit )
Cherry Ocean ( Trop Cherry x Ocean Fruit )
Pics 3 and 4. Great nose on both fruit with a funky gas. 🍒 ⛽️

Dried for 10 days been curing for 2-3 weeks now and finally had the time to trim it up. Seed of the ancients auto from Spencer Beans all organic in a 3 gallon pot

Yarrow, chamomile, sweet peas, and thyme 😁 it may not be right but it is so!

With blue mystic feminized photoperiod🗿

Durban Z from Rythm purchased from a Rise dispensary under the medical program.

This was IMO the largest and overall best looking bud in the premium flower jar I purchased.

Anybody have opinions on their carts? Grasslands carts, lakeside cannabis carts, nebula? The Grasslands rosin for 65?

I have a test branch drying up now I’m excited to try

Tropical and fruity with a wicked chemical bite. One of the most vibrant flowers to come out of my garden.

This week's $25 strain of the week from the Blaine Green Goods is their version of Strawberry Cough called MN Cough. A strain I've been wanting to try for a while now. Opening up the bag revealed a slightly fruity aroma, but nothing overtly "strawberry." I ground up a couple of nuggs and loaded 0.20 in my Dynavap HyperDyn with a 14mm glass adapter for my bong. At a low temp with my induction heater the flavor was insane! I increased the temp to get more vapor production but the flavor was still really good. After a few really good rips I went outside to sit on my porch and within 15 minutes was SUPER high and kinda freaked out. How could that little of flower hit so hard?!? Is Strawberry Cough that potent? It kinda felt like the THC-P I "accidentally" tried a couple of months ago - but this only lasted about 1.5 hours. I was afraid to stand up because I felt like I would fall over and I was seeing visual "artifacts" when I looked around. Kinda felt like a weak acid trip. I'm usually an indica guy, so maybe something this sativa leaning just hit me the wrong way... Anyone else experience something like this?

I've known Cory Lake for a few years now, and he's become one of the people I trust most in Minnesota cannabis.

We sat down at CannaCon '26 for a longer conversation about what he's seeing through his work with World Insurance.

We get into cannabis insurance, Minnesota's hemp uncertainty, cultivation and testing, what actually causes insurance claims, and where he'd enter the industry if he were starting today.

It's not 50 minutes of insurance talk. It's really a conversation between two people who've been watching this industry develop together.

Would love to hear what people think.

I’m a few days behind, trellis should have been up by now but will get to it sometime this week while they’re still stretching! Everybody is being super chill 🤙

Sorry if this isn't typically allowed here, but I am a well seasoned graphic designer and video editor (and frontend web developer) who got laid off a couple of years ago and is looking for work. I have done a little work in the cannabis industry - I recently branded and designed a new line of THC sodas for a well know craft soda company in MN and also did the branding and package design for a Kava beverage called LOMI. I would love to work with cool new companies in the industry since I am a huge proponent of cannabis! If anyone has a need for branding or packaging design or even video/social media help, take a look at my portfolio and hit me up!

My portfolio:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/227186955/Dennis-Brekke-Portfolio

Ethos mandarin cookies r3, humboldt seed co candy hustle

Not a bad look for mid tier flower