(FOX 9) – Minnesota marijuana retailers are burning to get started with sales, but two months after the first licenses went out, they have nothing but papers.

Almost finished

Not even started:

Legalization was signed into law 27 months ago now, so people hoped getting their licenses from the state was essentially the finish line and they could open.

But the state has now licensed several retailers and none of them can get out of the starting gate.

Fridley Dispensary looks ready to roll.

Owner Jen Swanson spent a couple of years jumping through all the hoops to get her license from the Office of Cannabis Management and hoped to get customers right inside.

“We would open immediately,” she said. “We’re ready, yeah, and the public’s ready.”

But her shelves are empty.

Minnesota’s marijuana law says retailers can only buy cannabis grown in Minnesota.

Warnings fell on deaf ears

Built to fail?:

Industry insiders and the rare Republican to support legalization warned that the rule would make for a rough rollout.

“There’s no market out there that has opened up and has had too much product, not one in the country so far,” said cannabis business owner Jeff Taylor in a March 2024 legislative hearing. “So we do need to start cultivating sooner than later.”

“What we need in order to have a safe and regulated market is for cultivation to start as soon as possible because you cannot have a retail store unless you have product to sell,” said Rep. Nolan West, (R-Blaine), in April 2024 during debate.

Cultivators originally would’ve gotten a head start through preapproval, but when OCM canceled the preapproval lottery last November after lawsuits, cultivators got stuck in line with everybody else.

Nothing to buy

Dry sources:

OCM licensed the first cultivator in June, so the state’s first crop won’t come until fall.

In the meantime, retailers could buy from tribes with state compacts.

So far, White Earth has the only compact and hasn’t decided how to manage wholesaling.

Retailers are hemorrhaging cash while they wait to buy cannabis, paying for mortgages or rent, employees, and security systems.

“By the time we open, we’re going to be so far in the hole, it’s going to take a while to climb out from this,” said Swanson.

What’s next:

An OCM spokesperson told us supply would arrive before too long.

Medical providers will get licenses soon, allowing them to sell to retailers, more tribes will sign state compacts, and the seven cultivators licensed so far will eventually have crops.

But for now, retailers are holding the bag.