BEMIDJI — The world of legal cannabis can be one of confusion, but it’s a world that the state’s Office of Cannabis Management hopes to clarify, as evidenced by a stop in Bemidji last week as part of its Connecting with Community Listening Tour.

Congregating in
Bemidji State’s
Hobson Memorial Union, cannabis business owners and interested community members took in a presentation aimed at providing an overview of OCM’s work and explaining how the office regulates the cannabis industry in Minnesota.

Time for questions and answers concluded the evening’s event, after which the office would embark to Duluth to continue the tour.

OCM Director Eric Taubel provided a timeline of OCM activities since Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana in 2023. Between 2023 and 2024, the OCM hired its leadership team and staff, as well as began designing grant programs.

One such program, CanRenew,
supports organizations in communities disproportionately affected by the enforcement of cannabis laws, the OCM website states.

One awardee for the 2025-2026 funding cycle was the
Beltrami Area Service Collaborative,
which received $100,000. The collaborative facilitates the UPLIFT Project, a peer-led prevention program at
Bemidji Middle School.

“They’re working with middle-schoolers — seventh-graders in particular — to develop some peer-to-peer networks to talk about substance use, substance use disorder, and how to avoid substances and make smart, healthy choices,” Taubel detailed. “We’re seeing those revenue dollars that are tied to cannabis’ legalization being pushed directly back into these communities.”

The collaborative’s website further explains that the program focuses on preventing substance use through interactive activities, mentoring and youth-driven campaigns, while promoting positive alternatives.

The OCM’s second grant program, CanGrow,
issued its first round of funding in 2025-2026, with one awardee being
Leech Lake Financial Services.

CanGrow features two focus areas: farmer training grants fund eligible organizations to provide educational materials, training and technical support to farmers who want to enter or expand into the legal cannabis industry, the OCM website states.

The second focus area includes farmer loan financing grants, which fund nonprofit corporations to assist farmers by providing low-interest loans for entering the legal cannabis industry.

Leech Lake Financial Services received $49,999 in farmer training grant funds as well as $382,910 in farmer loan financing funds.

Taubel also provided information on obtaining licensure, a process that has several moving parts.

Potential license-holders prepare their initial application and, upon paying their application fee, submit these materials to the OCM, who will verify minimum qualifications.

The next step splits into two parts: one for uncapped license approval and one for capped licenses.

Uncapped licenses are issued on a rolling basis, and there’s no limit to the number of uncapped licenses the state may grant, assuming minimum qualifications are met. Capped licenses are awarded through a lottery process, given the limited number available.

Cannabis businesses operating with uncapped licenses typically include microbusinesses, wholesalers and testing facilities, while those with capped licenses include large-scale cultivators and manufacturers, among others.

Once both complete the required background checks and submit a labor peace agreement, the applicants are considered preliminarily approved.

From preliminary approval, an applicant has 18 months to secure their physical license, or else the process resets. Taubel noted a recent legislative change to this timeframe, however, citing applicants’ concerns that 18 months may not be enough time.

“The change this year would give an additional six months to anyone that asks, so if you’re at month 17 of preliminary approval… you email the office, you ask for the extra six months, you get it,” Taubel said. “If after that six months you’re still in need of additional time, there’s now an ability to ask for an additional extension so long as you’re making good faith progress toward licensure.”

Working toward licensure includes securing the business location and confirming it meets local government requirements. From here, the applicant submits documentation to the OCM, which should include site information.

The OCM then has 90 days to review this information before sending it to the applicant’s local government for approval of zoning compliance. If local government confirms the site, the applicant moves to the penultimate stage of pre-licensure inspection by the OCM.

Assuming the applicant passes this inspection, they can then pay their initial license fee, after which the OCM issues the license. At long last, the applicant may begin operations as an official license holder.

As of May 26, the OCM has received a total of 3,541 license applications, with 1,337 being preliminarily approved. A total of 221 licenses have actually been issued.

Among other information, Taubel expressed hope that attendees walked away from Thursday’s session with greater perspective on the cannabis industry.

“We have a lot of time where we engage with people either in the industry or want to get into the industry, and we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to get out to the rest of the state to meet people where they’re at,” Taubel left off, “and talk about what’s happening.”

More information can be found on
the OCM website.