The Office of Cannabis Management didn’t just fumble Minnesota’s cannabis rollout — it spiked the ball into the ground, blamed gravity, and then told small businesses, “Well, you chose to play.”
Here’s the funny-not-funny reality of how the OCM has managed to starve small cannabis businesses, create a transportation/logistics circus, and then act shocked as shops close.
Welcome to Minnesota’s Cannabis Market: Now Open (Just Kidding)
If you were designing a cannabis market using basic common sense, you’d:
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Grow the plant.
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Process it into products.
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Test it in labs.
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Transport it.
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Then open stores.
That’s… not what happened.
Minnesota, under the watchful eye of the OCM, decided to do it in reverse. We got retail first, supply later, transport maybe, labs “we’re working on it,” and then a shrug.
By October 2025, the state had approved nearly 60 cannabis businesses, most of them microbusinesses with retail endorsements — people paying rent, payroll, and utilities while literally not allowed to sell the one thing customers are coming in for.MPR News Many of these licensed shops still don’t have adult-use cannabis on the shelves, only hemp-derived products that have been around for years.MPR News+1
So yes, Minnesota created a legal cannabis market where the stores showed up before the weed did. That’s not a rollout; that’s a prank.
The Transportation “Plan”: All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go
Even when there is product in the pipeline, there’s a crucial step: someone actually has to move it.
In Minnesota, cannabis can’t just ride shotgun in someone’s Subaru. It has to be transported by licensed transporters — a specific license type in the law. That’s the logistical bloodstream of the entire industry.
And as frustrated retailers have been pointing out, for months there were zero transporter licenses approved, and only two testing facilities online.MPR News So even if growers have product and labs can test it, the supply chain still gets stuck at, “Cool, so… who’s legally allowed to drive this across town?”
It’s like the OCM built a beautiful shiny highway system, installed toll booths, staffed the booths… and then forgot to allow any cars on the road.
Retailers are left asking the most Minnesota question ever:
“Umm, so who do we call?”
Four Wholesalers, Forty-Plus Stores, and One Giant Bottleneck
To make it even more “efficient,” Minnesota has allowed only four entities to supply the entire adult-use wholesale market so far: two tribal operators and two medical incumbents, RISE and Green Goods.Cannabis Risk Manager+1
At the same time, roughly 40 retail storefronts have been approved and are supposed to be up and running.Cannabis Risk Manager+1 That’s not a supply chain; that’s a bouncer line outside a bar that only stocks one keg.
Retailers report that they’re operating at a fraction of expected sales, some seeing just two to four customers a day, when foot traffic suggests they should be serving 80.MPR News+1 Many are relying on merch, CBD, or hemp beverages to stay alive while waiting for actual cannabis to magically appear.
And OCM’s director openly admits there’s a lack of product and that every piece of infrastructure had to be built from scratch.MPR News
Cool. We get that. But maybe… don’t open 40+ stores first if you know the warehouse is empty and the delivery trucks don’t exist?
OCM’s Vibes: “You Opened a Store in This Market? That’s On You.”
Here’s where it gets darkly funny.
Small operators are sitting on massive startup costs: leases, build-outs, regulatory fees, insurance, security systems, staff training — all based on the state’s promise that a legal market was coming. Now, some owners are openly talking about closing before they even get to sell adult-use cannabis.MPR News+2MPR News+2
And the attitude from OCM basically boils down to:
“Well, you chose to take that risk.”
Imagine if the state:
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Let you open a restaurant,
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Told you you’d be part of a shiny new state-backed food program,
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Then refused to license any food distributors or health inspectors,
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Banned you from buying ingredients from anywhere else,
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Let Walmart and Target secretly stock their shelves anyway,
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And when you went bankrupt, said, “Hey, running a restaurant is risky.”
That’s essentially what’s happening to cannabis microbusinesses.
Medical Giants and Tribes: “Oh, You Thought You Were the Main Character?”
Meanwhile, the existing medical cannabis giants, RISE and Green Goods, are doing just fine. These companies already had:
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Grow operations
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Manufacturing capacity
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Testing across an existing system
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Retail outlets
And under Minnesota’s system, they can wholesale to other dispensaries — and sell adult-use in their own stores.420intel.com+3Cannabis Risk Manager+3MPR News+3
Added bonus: tribal operators like White Earth and Mille Lacs have compacts that allow them to grow and sell ahead of the broader market and, in theory, sell product into the non-tribal system. But integration with the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system (Metrc) and the broader regulatory framework has been slow and messy.Cannabis Risk Manager+1
So when the dust settles, who’s actually able to move product?
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Tribes with their own lanes.
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Medical incumbents with infrastructure.
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A handful of wholesalers.
And who’s stuck with “coming soon” signs and empty shelves?
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The microbusinesses and social equity operators Minnesota claimed it wanted to prioritize.
If this is what “equity” looks like, it’s doing a fantastic impression of corporate capture.
Social Equity: Now Featuring Stress, Debt, and No Inventory
Social equity applicants were told:
“You’re the heart of this program. We’re centering you.”
Then they were placed into a market where:
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Retail came before cultivation.
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There are only a couple mature cultivators licensed.MPR News+1
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Transporters weren’t approved when stores opened.MPR News
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Only four entities can really move significant wholesale product.Cannabis Risk Manager
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Medical incumbents and tribal operations had a functional runway before anyone else.420intel.com+3Cannabis Risk Manager+3MPR News+3
This isn’t a “few bumps in the road.” It’s a road made of bumps.
Equity applicants weren’t just given a headwind — they were given an anchor, a blindfold, and a pat on the back.
The Office of Cannabis Management, or the Office of Can’t Manage?
At this point, it’s hard not to make fun of the OCM, because the situation is already satire:
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They opened stores before they had growers.
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They talked about a “regulated supply chain”… without transporters.MPR News
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They watched small businesses plead for product and said, effectively, “It’ll work itself out.”
If you turned this into a Netflix comedy series called Office of Cannabis Management, the writers would be told to tone it down — it’s too unrealistic.
Picture the OCM planning meeting:
“Should we license transporters before we approve 40 retail storefronts?”
“Nah, they’ll vibe it out.”
“Should we make sure there are more than four wholesalers to serve the entire state?”
“Bro, scarcity is a ‘market dynamic.’”
“What happens if microbusinesses go bankrupt waiting for product?”
“Well… entrepreneurship is risky. Next agenda item?”
You don’t get to design the disaster and then blame the people trapped inside it.
Transportation Is the Choke Point — And They Built the Noose
The transport issue is not some geeky side detail. It’s central.
Cannabis has to move:
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From cultivators to labs,
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From labs to manufacturers,
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From manufacturers/wholesalers to retailers.
Every single one of those steps is regulated. If you don’t have licensed transporters, you don’t have a market — you have inventory sitting in quarantined rooms while retailers stare at empty shelves.
Retailers are asking basic operational questions like:
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“Who is allowed to pick this up?”
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“Is it prepackaged or bulk?”
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“Who’s responsible if something’s wrong with the manifest?”
Those are the logistics OCM should have nailed before sending out “Congratulations, you’re licensed!” emails. Instead, they turned the entire supply chain into a live-fire exercise for small businesses.MPR News+2Cannabis Risk Manager+2
“Their Choice” vs. “Our Design”
Here’s the core of it:
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Small businesses made a choice based on the rules and timeline the state gave them.
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OCM made design decisions that determined whether those choices had any chance of working.
When microbusiness owners say, “We might have to close before we ever really open,” that’s not just bad luck. It’s the predictable result of:
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Licensing retail first,
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Under-licensing growers and labs,
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Failing to approve transporters,
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Letting medical and tribal operators dominate early supply.420intel.com+4MPR News+4Cannabis Risk Manager+4
So when OCM shrugs and says, in effect, “Hey, that’s the risk you took,” it’s like an engineer loosening all the bolts on a roller coaster and then blaming the riders for buying tickets.
How To Fix This (Besides Retiring the “Office of Can’t Manage” Nickname)
Minnesota can still salvage this — if the state stops pretending this is all just market magic.
Here’s the bare minimum:
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Fast-track transporter licenses.
Approve enough transporters so cannabis can actually move, not just grow and sit.MPR News -
Front-load cultivation and processing.
Freeze new retail approvals until there is a healthy ratio of growers, labs, and wholesalers to stores.Cannabis Risk Manager+2MPR News+2 -
Integrate tribal and non-tribal supply more effectively.
If compacts are supposed to solve early supply issues, then fix the Metrc and regulatory friction so tribes can actually participate fully in wholesale.Cannabis Risk Manager+1 -
Give microbusinesses real relief.
Consider fee abatements, tax credits, temporary hemp crossover, or grants for those who’ve been sitting licensed-but-empty because of state-caused delays.Axios+1 -
Stop gaslighting small businesses.
Acknowledge, in plain language, that the rollout sequencing and licensing imbalance created conditions where failure for small operators was not just possible — it was probable.
Minnesota doesn’t lack entrepreneurs. It doesn’t lack demand. It doesn’t lack smart people who told the state exactly what order this needed to happen in.
What we lack is an Office of Cannabis Management that actually manages cannabis… and not just the press releases.
Until that changes, the joke will keep writing itself — and unfortunately, it’s being written in red ink on the books of small cannabis businesses across the state.
