Episode 5 - Cannabis is Legal(-ish) (with Jen Reise)

Cannabis is legal in Minnesota! In this episode, our guest Jen Reise of North Star Law Group helps us to break down what's legal, and what remains illegal, around cannabis in Minnesota. We also sample some products from a few of our friends up north (Bent Paddle Brewing Co. and Blacklist Brewing). Finally, we come to you live from CananConnect 02, talking to some of the amazing cannabis entrepreneurs that were there. Absolutely an episode that you won't want to miss!

Today's episode of Northern Lights is presented by North Star Law Group, your trusted partner in Minnesota's burgeoning legal cannabis industry. Learn more at northstarlaw.com

Links from the Show

• NativeCare (Red Lake Nation Cannabis Dispensary) - https://www.nativecare.com/
• Bent Paddle Brewing Co. - https://bentpaddlebrewing.com/cbd/
• Blacklist Brewing - https://www.blacklistbeer.com/
• North Star Law Group - https://www.northstarlaw.com
• Unlock the Power of Super Soil with Dr. Dabs - https://mncannabiscollege.org/soil

Transcript

 Today's episode of Northern Lights is presented by Northstar Law Group, your trusted partner in Minnesota's burgeoning legal cannabis industry. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand, attorney Jen Reise and her team will help you understand the latest developments, scope out risks, and find a compliant path forward in this rapidly changing field.

Visit NorthstarLaw. com and let Northstar Law Group guide you through the legal landscape with confidence.

Hello, hello, hello, hello. Welcome everyone. Welcome. Hello, Tanner. How are you feeling? You know, feeling great. Cannabis is legal in Minnesota. Ayyyy. Nothing to complain about. I'm happy to be here. Happy you're here today. We're going to be talking about some fun stuff, but starting out, cannabis is legal in Minnesota.

Legal. We legalize it. Yeah. As an activist for a number of years, I know Marcus talked about this in the last episode. It's just cool to see legal cannabis in Minnesota. There aren't stores, they haven't started expungement, but it's legal. It's legal. And that's all that we work for. And over these past few years, I'm just so excited and I'm just.

Still riding the high, no pun intended. Absolutely. Yeah. I know. And it's, it's just, it's really really cool. So thank you all for joining us today. We got so excited. We sort of skipped over our intro. This is Northern Lights, a Minnesota Cannabis College production. I'm Tanner and I'm Shayna.

And we today are going to be filling you in on the Minnesota cannabis industry, which as you heard is, is now legal here in Minnesota. Before we jump into everything today, I want to give a big shout out to all the students that came out to our Cloning 101 class with Dr. Dabbs. Yeah. Such an awesome time.

Really it was great to have people come out to get hands-on experience with the plant. Shout out to Cultivated CBD who brought out some incredible beverages. Amazing. Really a great time. Thank you so much to CannaConnect for helping us to organize that, helping us to get it all together. Hopefully the first of, of many.

Yes, amazing. And we would just like to say that we appreciate so much the continued support of our movement. And we have more to come. Absolutely. So going back to August 1st, it was a big day. Not just cannabis was legal, not just sort of we were able to go out in public and smoke, but we were at first Avenue, sort of the premier.

Celebration here in the state on the first literally partying like it was 1999. Oh, yeah, it was such a fun time. There was great music. There were great vibes and there was public cannabis consumption legally in the streets of Minneapolis. It was just so great to see, you know, the diversity of different age groups and just so many different people from advocates.

General consumers just coming out to support had great positive vibes. Everyone was so interested and we appreciate everyone that stopped by our table and visited us. But it was just great to see the panel of all the legislatures and the movers and shakers across the state who really made this happen.

So it was very amazing to see Jesse Ventura up on stage and talking about who really was at the forefront of starting this. many years ago. So it was amazing to kind of see him there and offer support. So just general, just good vibes all around. Yeah. Jesse made some news at Canada connect just a couple of days earlier.

He wants to be the first governor with his face on a legal cannabis product. That's so dope. We'll see. We'll see. I would love to buy some Jesse, the body high Ventura gummies. Okay. Okay. You want to try those out? Yeah, I'll give them a try. So definitely a fun time. If you were there with us, give us a shout out.

Let us know if you had a good time. Shout us out. Shout us out. If not, we hope to catch you the next time for sure. Yeah. But the big news that we wanted to talk about today was not just that cannabis is legal. But then we as Minnesota, the state of Minnesota, were the first state to have legal cannabis sales.

The first day of legalization. Amazing. No, it wasn't in Minneapolis. Nope. It wasn't in St. Paul. Nope, it wasn't in Duluth. Nope. No, this was in Red Lake. Red Lake. So Red Lake is one of the federally recognized native tribes here in Minnesota. Mm-Hmm. . They are a sovereign nation. With the passage of House File 100, the sovereign nations in the state of Minnesota were given permission to figure out their own cannabis policies.

So talk a little bit about the word sovereignty. Tell people who may not be aware of what that means and the difference between the native tribes and just, you know, people outside of the tribal nation. Such a great question. So we in Minnesota have a really long history of partnering is not the right word, but coexisting with a lot of native.

People that have been here in the state for hundreds of thousands of years before the United States was here. Those tribes are given permission from the United States government, but essentially are their own independent country. They get to come up with their own rules around criminal procedure.

They get to come up with their own taxation policies. There's a reason that we have casinos in Minnesota on Native reservations, and it's because they sort of get to come up with their own rules. With House File 100, Minnesota said the same is true with, with cannabis. So, Red Lake, they were the first native nation to step forward.

Their native care dispensary, which previously was just medicinal, is now anyone over the age of 21 can purchase, band member or not. Amazing. And I saw their story on the news and literally the line was wrapped around the business, wrapped around, wrapped around the business. In fact, later in the day, there was some not great weather.

It was storming pretty hard and you had people holding up butcher paper all along the building over their heads because there were so many people still in line. waiting to buy cannabis on the first day. Hyped up. So, let's talk about the location of Red Lake because people are like, what? Where is that?

So, how far is that away from the Twin Cities? So, you're looking at about a four hour drive north. Ooh. If you're coming from Duluth, equally a pretty long drive. Yeah. If you're from any of the major, larger cities here in Minnesota, this is going to be a road trip for you. But for people that were in the state that had some of the least access to cannabis, looking at that medical market where those dispensaries were set up.

Now they have some of the best access to adult use cannabis out of the entire state. That's amazing. So a big day for Red Lake, they had more than 300 people waiting in line on the first day alone. They had more than 80 pre orders that they were prepping that morning, which may not sound like a lot, but looking at Some of these places in Minnesota, that's a pretty large amount of sales.

That's amazing. And it's only going to grow. Yeah. Red Lake right now is the only place you can buy legal adult use cannabis in Minnesota. And while it's a little bit of a drive for someone like me, who's really interested in cannabis here in Minnesota, well worth it to see what legal cannabis looks like here in our state.

Yeah. Make it a nice road trip. Minnesota is very beautiful. So take in some of the landscape and check it out. Yeah. I also wanted to throw this out because it's an interesting thing. Red Lake is one of the only dry reservations here in Minnesota. So what does that mean? It means you can't purchase alcohol there.

Ah, so it's one of the few places, not just the United States, but the entire world where you can't purchase alcohol, but you can purchase cannabis. Interesting thing going on here in Minnesota, Minnesota, always at the forefront and being trailblazers. Yeah. So that's amazing. So go support them. If you can and we're excited to see what happens in the future with other businesses locally here around the twin cities here in the next couple of years, I guess.

Absolutely. And not to spoil any future announcements, but We might be coming to you from the Red Lake Native Care in the next couple of months here. So check that out. Be on the lookout for that. Stay tuned. So speaking of up north cannabis, cannabis coming from not the cities, but from the northern part of our state.

I had the opportunity this week to go on a road trip. You did? I got to go up north. I went to the beautiful town of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Went up, it's a couple hours north of Duluth. But it's a beautiful small town. It sounds fancy. It's pretty nice. It has some beautiful bays right along Lake Superior.

It has some pretty nice food. But something that they had this year that they didn't have last time that I went, they also had legal cannabis. What a town of just a few hundred people. I went into a taco shop and what they have will be retro bakery THC products. I love it. I go into, you know, a bar that I kid you not in the middle of nowhere.

They have beer and they also have THC seltzers. Love it. Cannabis is just becoming like normal here in Minnesota, which is pretty cool. And I figured it's not a vacation, it's not a road trip if you don't bring back some souvenirs for your friends. Absolutely. So I brought back a couple cannabis products that you can find, not really as much here in the Twin Cities, but a ton up north.

Some really cool cannabis products made right in Duluth, Minnesota. And I wanted to, to sort of try them out today. Try them out, so you and John will be doing that. Oh yeah, so we're going to be inviting our buddy John. On to the podcast here. We'll let him scoot over to the microphone. Hello. Howdy, howdy.

So we've got a couple different things we're trying today. I'll take you through. We've got a lifted and bridged fruit punch, fruit punch seltzer. We've got a puff of sparkling water. That's dragon fruit and pineapple from Ben paddle. And then we've also got some Ben paddle gummies that we're going to be trying out.

John, do you have one that you want to start with here today? Let's start with the gummies since I'm the designated snack. Awesome. So is it mango flavored? Oh yeah. So we've got the mango tangerine gummies. These are coming to you from bent paddle. So Ben paddle. It's a, a, a brewing company up north in Duluth.

It's a pretty fun time. I got to check out their tap room. I got to check out their candle lounge, which we'll talk about in a second, but they also make some pretty high quality THC gummies. So we got some mango tangerine, they're five milligrams each. Let's give these a try. So let's talk about the gummies because you hear a lot of reviews about that compared to, to flower.

Is that because people know it's sweet? sneaking up on you. So what advice do John or Tanner give to people who are new to gummies? I would always say, read the packaging. Usually all the information you need to know will be right in front of you. But people, you know, they love snacks. They bought them for a reason.

They bought them to eat. So they rip them open and they eat too much. But if they just stop, see what the dosage is, see what you like, know yourself, know what you can handle. And like these, these are five milligrams, so just eat one at a time. See how you feel. Take your time. Don't get crazy. Exactly.

Totally. We had someone ask us, Hey guys, do you really sample all the THC products in the show? And, and we do, but we follow some pretty good advice, of going low and slow. And we ate some five milligrams gummies. We're gonna. Act responsibly after consuming. I like that slogan. Low and slow. Low and slow.

And those are nice. The tangerine really stood out. Oh, but you can still taste the mango. Oh, they're sweet. Yeah. What I like about these is they're just sort of like your classic gummies. You know, it's exactly what you'd expect from a cannabis gummy. It's nothing super fancy. But it's great. It's simple. I like it.

Yeah, mango tangerine. Definitely check them out. Five milligrams each bent paddle again made in Duluth. Now we're going to try different drinks here. And these are very fun looking. I love the packaging given that retro look. Yeah, with all the different colors going down. This is very bright.

These are beautiful. This is Blacklist Brewing Company. Lifted and bridged fruit punch. Mm hmm. Yeah, so a brewing company up north in Minnesota had a tap room that I had not personally heard of before, but was excited to see this. Now, this drink was bought at Superior Cannabis, which is a shop right on Canal Park in Duluth.

Like, it's right in that main strip, not too far from Grandma's, not too far from the lift bridge. You can also buy Cannabis products there. So that's where we pick this one up. We'll go ahead and get it. That

has a beautiful color to grapefruit color. Wow. But it tasted really nice. It has a really nice taste. Super fruity, but not sweet. I like that. How many milligrams are these guys? Such a great question. So that 16 ounce can is 10 milligrams. So two, five milligrams servings in it. We each took like a tiny sip of it, so probably like one milligram at most.

But it, it, it's a really good flavor. It reminds me of sort of like those juice pouches you would get as a kid. And of course we're not encouraged, we are not children to drink this product, but it does sort of give you that childhood feel to it. You say nostalgic? Absolutely nostalgic. That's a good way to put it.

What were you thinking, Joe? Like I said, I, I'm just thinking, I love the way it looks. Yeah. It's a very beautiful color. It's a sunset color, which is, I like, and I also like not being overwhelmed with sweetness. Nice for your backyard barbecues and your, your, your parties. And it's brewed right here in Minnesota, right, right, right over in Duluth.

So let's, let's read their slogan cause it's, it's pretty great. So for all those times in life when you've got nothing to do but sit back and watch the bridge rise up. Get lifted with this fruity elixir infused with THC. Beam Bridge never tasted so sweet. Mm mm. Wow. I like that. All right, well, we've got one more to try here today.

Now, this one is a little bit of an exclusive drink. I'm excited that we're able to try this one out. Exclusive? What do you mean? So, Up North, Ben Paddle Brewing Co. has this Cannell Lounge. It's a really cool place. If you're in Duluth, if you're anywhere in that northern Arrowhead part of the state, absolutely check it out.

But it's essentially a tap room geared just towards cannabis. Can you buy beer there? No, it is just THC drinks, gummies and chocolates. And it is a lounge dedicated to the cannabis community. Okay. That's awesome. This one here is a dragon fruit pineapple. Yeah. So this is their candle lounge exclusive puff.

It's sparkling water, dragon fruit and pineapple. Have you heard 10 milligrams for every 10 ounce can. So it's definitely one of the stronger drinks you could say, but What's cool is this one is all locally sourced. So the hemp is grown by Finnegan's Farm. It's processed by Superior Molecular just out in White Bear Lake and then it's bottled, canned in Duluth.

Should we bust this one open, give this one a try too? Yeah, and this one is also another beautiful can. Definitely is playing to that sparkling water element. Oh, you can smell this one before you drink it. Wow, yeah, absolutely. It's very smooth flavor. Smooth is exactly the term I would use. Yeah, it's crispy.

Yeah. It's another, another great beach drink, I would say. This one feels a little sophisticated. Yeah. That's the word I would use. I feel like your lady who likes a really good cocktail would also really like it. I think this drink, this is the Puff of Bent Paddle Brewing. Yeah. So if you want to try this one, unfortunately you can't go to your local THC shop.

You can't order it online. You got to go to the Cannell Lounge up in Duluth. So another road trip. Another road trip. Wow. So I just, what I love about this and the reason I wanted to bring all these back is I think it's such a great reminder that high quality cannabis products are not just being made locally here in the city.

They're not just being made by one or two companies. They're being made by people across the state of Minnesota. High quality cannabis products are everywhere in our state right now. And, and that's pretty cool. And I've been up to that Bent Paddle Cannabis Lounge. It's a super sweet place.

You get to see kind of one side of the wall. You get to see all their brewing, what they do back there. And then there's like two awesome restaurants. I know they have their restaurant and there's another restaurant like right across the street. So it's like a. Nice little area. Nice little part of Duluth.

Yeah, I would love to go and hang out there. Get pretty stoned and play some board games with some friends. Sounds like a good, good afternoon. Summertime vibes. Go to the lake, yeah. Minnesota Cannabis College Road Trip? Is that what I'm hearing? I think that's what I heard. Well be on the lookout for us, everyone.

Check us out. Alright, well, thank you, John, for sampling those products today. I always appreciate being able to bring some things back from vacation. And this time Legally, I always appreciate tasting it Tanner. So thank you. Thank you. All right Well, we'll be back in just a minute with an interview that Shana did with Jen Rise of NorthStar Law Group. She'll be talking about her experiences in the industry and what new entrepreneurs should know.

I'm so excited. Stay tuned. We'll be right back

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We hope to see you there. Hello. Hello. Welcome again to another amazing episode of. Northern Lights Podcast. I'm your host, Shaina. And today we're joined with the beautiful Ms. Jen Riza, an attorney with North Star Law Group. Welcome, Ms. Jen. How are you today? Oh, great. Thanks, Shaina. Really happy to be here.

Yeah, great. Thank you. We're excited to have you here. You have a great background and experience and I'm, I'm just so excited after the momentum, momentum that we had this week here coming off of legalization. So congratulations to everyone in the state of Minnesota, the 23rd state here with legalization.

So Ms. Jin, kind of tell us a little bit more about yourself and what got you into law in the first place and tell us a little bit more about. What you do in your work as an attorney here in the state. Yeah, you bet. So I am a business lawyer by training. I've been at the big firm and in house and I also taught law school for three years.

But I'm now making a life pivot and have co-founded this awesome firm. Called North Star Law Group, where I'm the head of business and cannabis law. And we are helping lots of small businesses and entrepreneurs get started and scale up in the cannabis and hemp space in Minnesota. So that's great.

So take us from teaching at Mitchell Hamlin to working at North Star and, and really taking us how you took a lead up at North Star Cannabis Law. When did you first think about transitioning over to like the cannabis space? Yes. You know, I've, I've long been an advocate of cannabis legalization. But I didn't really get into the space until after I had a personal experience where a member of my family developed something that medical cannabis was really, really important in helping them feel better and helping them get back to where they could, you know, live a functional life.

And so that just really made me extra committed to wanting to work in this space. I believe really strongly in the medical power of the. plant and that there's a lot of low hanging fruit for the med tech folks of Minnesota to discover. In addition to wanting us to have it available recreationally and making sure that we expunge past offenses for cannabis.

So stop putting people in jail for possessing a plant. So I'm really excited to be working in this space and helping small, small businesses and entrepreneurs. Over the past couple of months, you've attended a lot of events where the Minnesota Cannabis College has attended as well. Had a great opportunity where you've done some training on raising capital in the cannabis business law space.

So can you talk a little bit more about that process of legalization? What does it look like for you and how do you feel now that prohibition is then in the rearview mirror for us and moving forward? Yeah. Yeah. Really excited to be here on August 3rd. It's been a long time coming and at the same time, there's a lot in front of us still to come.

Talking to a lot of entrepreneurs about how they're going to set up their businesses and going through licensing and all of the many gray areas that continue to exist. I feel like part of my job as the business lawyer is to keep on top of all of these, you know, changes and interpretations and where other people are getting in trouble so that I can help my clients navigate The situation as it changes underneath us, right?

We're sort of surfing on the uncertainty. Yeah. So that's a great segue, Jen, where you talked about that. So let's talk about it here. Adult use of cannabis is legal in Minnesota and we know it's a monumental, you know, step for us, but also with any law, we are aware that there are caveats and we want to make sure that people are educated to ensure that they're not on the wrong path.

You know, because there are still some things that they cannot do. So we'll talk a little bit about as of August 1st, what does legalization really mean for Minnesota? It's a great question. And I, and I think one that a lot of people are a little confused about. So the first big change is the possession limits.

It used to be that there was no amount of cannabis that you could legally possess in Minnesota. Now we have significantly raised limits, two ounces a flower when you're out and about two pounds per person per, per adult in a household, which is to allow for people to home grow and harvest their home grow mostly.

That's why it's so high. It's actually the highest in the nation. Yes. And. And then equivalent amounts, you know, for concentrate and edibles and so forth. Okay. So, we have those new caps underneath, which your possession of that is perfectly legal in general. Minnesota is also one of the few states to allow what we call public consumption.

And certainly that was fun. Smoking outside First Avenue on August 1st felt extremely strange. Basically you can enjoy it. Consuming cannabis, including smoking in a variety of places, definitely on private property and in general, in public property as well, unless there is an ordinance or other thing against it.

So, for instance the Clean Air Act still governs, that means that you can't smoke based inside. Basically anywhere. You know, that law was created for tobacco, but it applies to smoking cannabis as well. And then we're seeing some cities and, you know, park boards and so forth considering whether they want to further restrict consumption of, you know, smoking of cannabis in, Parks in different cities and so forth.

So we'll probably see a little bit of regulatory patchwork That will probably keep shifting over time on exactly where but in general You can consume in public. Mm hmm. Great. So I know that there are a lot of concerns. I've heard chatter about Families and smoking. And you mentioned that the same laws when it comes to tobacco applies to cannabis.

What will you tell a parent who's concerned about inhaling the smoke or being in a vicinity? And you, you talked about those regulations and those limits. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? You know, that's a great point. There are additional limits in the law that are aimed to protect children.

Yeah, no smoking in, in or around. Daycares and schools and other things like that, or I think even like in a park setting or something where there are children present. So I, you know, I really encourage folks as they are, you know lawfully consuming to just, you know, continue to be thoughtful of others.

I think that, you know, we can, we can figure this out as a whole community. As we, as we still enjoy this new, this new right. Yeah. So if I could loop back, you said, what is legal on August 1st? So the increased possession limits was one. The second one is homegirl. I'm so excited about homegirl.

What makes you excited about that? Well, one is a lot of States that have, so Minnesota is the 23rd state to adopt adult rec legalization. But only 11 States allow homegirls. Wow. And so, I'm excited that we're one of them. We have a long history. I think in Minnesota of being kind of urban agriculture folks.

We have more community gardens and people planting tomatoes behind their house and stuff. I think of them in a lot of places. And I am just seeing so much energy and excitement about HomeGrow which is really fun. And I definitely think I love the education that Minnesota Cannabis College and others are doing around HomeGrow because it's kind of a lot.

So I, I will admit I just started HomeGrowing cannabis just for the first time. And I was a little overwhelmed by all of the different advice and methods and so forth out there. Anyway, it was great for me to do as a cannabis lawyer. I'm excited to add that knowledge of the plant as well. Oh, amazing.

So another thing we talked about was caveats. So let's kind of dive into the business side and the commercial side. Can individuals or businesses start selling cannabis to adults today? No, no. Can I say it louder? Can I say it louder, Shana? Yeah. Okay. With the exception of the tribes, and we'll talk about them in a minute.

Okay. Nobody is allowed to sell cannabis yet. And I know that's super weird to be allowed to possess something that you can not legally buy. I agree that that is super weird. The reason that we're in that chapter right now is because the Minnesota legislature made the policy decision, we want to stop prohibition and stop putting people in jail for possessing a plan.

We want that part to happen right away, even though we need longer to set up a thoughtful and complete licensing system. Right. Okay. So that's why it's not legal to sell it because nobody has licenses to sell yet. Okay. Some of the steps that have to happen are to get the office of cannabis management set up.

They're still getting staffed up. They're going to appoint a director, et cetera. They need to put out a whole bunch of rules. Then there will be an application process for the different licenses. Only then will people then some people will get awarded licenses. Then. They can plant for commercial growing, then they can open their dispensaries as of whatever effective date the state sets.

That will be an extremely exciting day. I would love to come back and talk to you after that day, but I fear it will be 12 to 18 months from now. And that was my next question. I know you have your ear to the streets as they say, like, do you anticipate there's been a lot of buzz about the end of 2024, even the beginning of 2025.

So basically, Ms. Jen is saying. Have patience, people, please. Patience, patience, patience. Yes, well, and the patience is, is worthwhile, I think, because, remember, I mean, for a long time, we've dealt with large civil and criminal penalties for selling cannabis, and people should be, should realize that it is still definitely illegal to be selling cannabis, either as a store or as an individual.

If you're one of the home growers and you've got some nice flour, you are not allowed to sell it, right? And please keep in mind federal laws still stand. Well, that's also true. But even in Minnesota, it's still illegal to sell that homegirl, right? Yeah, one thing a lot of people talk to me about is the gift rules.

Do you want to talk about that? Yeah All right. So the law provides that you can give up to two ounces of flour or equivalent amounts, whatever without penalty under the law as well and I know People in the know for a while have seen some other states and places play games with the gift thing.

Evidently there was a while in D. C. where you could get some weed if you bought a t- shirt for $50 at the right place. The Minnesota legislature did not want that to happen here. They are very clear that this is a gift for no remuneration. And it is not a gift from a business that is in the business of selling similar services.

Okay, so people should know that idea Of Oh, wink, wink. It's a gift. Definitely does include some criminal risk, some really serious risks, serious elements. So we talked about flour, which I know is probably most identified and people are more familiar with. But what about edibles? Do businesses selling like low potency edibles need to know anything to keep their businesses operating legally?

You know, maybe later in the year or what, tell us a little bit more about that. They sure do. Yes. So at some point we will have what I think of as full strength edibles, full cannabis edibles, but of course we won't have those either until people have gone through the cannabis retail licensing process.

Okay, so we're putting those aside. Let's move back to what's been legal in Minnesota for more than a year. Yeah, those low potency hemp derived edibles. So one of the cool things about this bill is that in addition to setting up a full adult use framework, it also regulated this unique hemp derived THC industry that we had had for a year.

And allowed that to continue to survive. And added Some additional testing regulation and taxation on it because those hadn't been there before because it sort of happened through like a little definitional change in the law. Okay. So up to this point, people have been able to sell hemp derived edibles.

Basically, anybody can sell them anywhere. That was always going to end at some point. That point has now been determined to be October 1st 2023 because that is the deadline that the state has. Determined for when all retailers of those products need to register with the state. And then we're going to start through a process of actual registration and licensing.

Okay. I think that they will still be allowed to be sold in a variety of places. Certainly in liquor stores, I would guess. Also gas stations, other retail establishments, restaurants. I'm, you know, I'm not exactly sure. Right. They're being sold in a lot of places today but every place that sells them is going to need to have the license as a low dose hemp retailer.

They're going to have to have that license to sell them eventually. Right. So make sure to get your paperwork in order. Ms. Jen is available if you have any additional resources. And we will be loading up those resources on our website as well. So Jen, let's talk about selling pipes and glasses over to active businesses for tobacco use only.

Can they begin to openly start selling cannabis for anyone who's 21 years old or older? So I think under Minnesota law, that answer at least is yes. Okay. Because cannabis paraphernalia is Also included in the things that are made legal to possess by this bill as of August 1st.

However if folks are selling on Etsy or across state lines in other ways or something, they might want to be a little more careful because of course, federal legality, right? We always have to think about federal rules when things cross state lines. Right. So yeah, I don't know if people were being real careful about putting up those signs anyway, but I would say, you know, when they peel off, let them go.

Right. Exactly. Let's talk a little bit more about selling seeds and clones as of August 1st. Can you tell us a little bit more about whether businesses are selling that as well? Yes. So let me break that down. And I'm going to talk about seeds and I'm going to talk about seeds that have sprouted, i. e.

plants. Okay. So let's talk about seeds first. So this has been a fast moving topic in my life. It feels like we've landed in a good place from a regulatory perspective where the Minnesota permanent age is. Was accepting applications as has granted applications for people to be seed labelers under Minnesota seed rules.

Largely that's a like testing and labeling kind of requirement so that people know that these are seeds that, you know, are, are likely to sprout and are what they, you know, are of the strain and variety that they are described, et cetera. Okay. So. If people are buying seeds ideally they're buying from a seed labeler or from a retailer who bought them from a seed labeler.

And they're probably going to be able to see that because they're going to have nice labels that have numbers on them or so forth. Right, which is a requirement under the bill. Exactly, yes. I mean, if you have seeds from other sources then it's not illegal to possess seeds as an individual, but it is not legal to sell them unless you're moving through that seed label or process.

Mm hmm. Okay. Okay. So that was seeds. Now let's talk about plants. Okay. So this thing's moving fast. I may have a different answer for you in two weeks, but at this point I think it's still a pretty significant risk for. Companies or individuals sell plants without a license. And of course, nobody has a license to sell plants yet, right?

Once we get through licensing, sure, we'll all be able to buy. Beautiful clones and adolescent plants at micro retailers and retailers. But it's not one of the things that the law allows you to do. And I think it's just a really gray area right now. A great area, which is so overwhelming and you're providing such great information, which is a great point for someone new to the industry.

Jen, what kind of advice would you give to individuals who are interested in joining the entrepreneur space and looking to, you know, enter cannabis over the next few months? Yeah, top three things. I think of the top three things. Okay, let's see. One is that there are a lot of different kinds of business opportunities in the cannabis space.

We've got 16 different licenses more than any other state. I know, right? And so I think a lot of people think right away. I want to open a dispensary and you know what we're going to need dispensaries. We're going to need good retailers to run dispensaries, but there are lots of other possible avenues in this industry that people can get into either licensed or not.

You know, we're also going to need it. People who know how to grow and can consult on that. Other kinds of service providers and consultants are places for people to rent. You know, it's, it's just a, it's going to be a huge industry. And I think we haven't even quite got our arms around all the different pieces that people might be excited to be part of.

So that's one thing: think, think big and think about where your niche is. Might be right. The second one I think would be if, if your dream is to own a licensed business, then we're in kind of a weird place right now because like we said, license applications aren't going to be open for a good chunk of time.

And yet we are a merit based state, right? The state is going to have to read through these whole piles of license applications and decide who they think. Based on what is written there are good bets for running a viable and compliant business, right? And so there are things that entrepreneurs can do now to try to think towards making that application.

I think. Starting towards a great business plan is, you know, close to number one on that. And if you need consulting or law services to help scope out what is legal or will be legal under the bill in order to get to that business plan, that's a great point. This is a great point at which to do that.

Yeah. And it's, it's overwhelming. And let's talk a little bit about entry. There's been a lot of concern and chatter from. the public about big business coming in and saturating the market and really pushing out the smaller entrepreneurs who are interested in pursuing it, which we've seen across the country and other states.

Tell us how unique Minnesota's law has been written around that from the microloans and entry into that, if you can just really talk on that. Yeah, creating a craft cannabis industry was a huge priority. For the legislators who made this happen, and I really commend them for that. Some of the things that they put in the bill that are really different are, license application fees are significantly lower than most states, right?

They really want the small entrepreneur to be able to get into this business. The restrictions on vertical integration are really quite unusual. Some states require vertical integration, right? Their laws are set up. So that you have a relatively small number of large companies that then the state can regulate.

Minnesota is taking a very, very different approach by saying we want a lot of small operators who all have a piece of the pie. Right. Right. As you mentioned, there are going to be grants available. I, you know, I wish that that was available now, but I mean, we always wish for whatever things will come, but it is not yet.

It is not yet available to apply for those grants and so forth that are supposed to help small entrepreneurs. Let's see what else? Well, and then this wasn't something the legislature did, but just the whole community. I think I love it. Many people are passionate about educating each other right including the Minnesota Cannabis College, right?

I mean it is such a thing that people are excited to share their knowledge to work together to, you know, hammer out compromises when the deal is being made. It is really a thriving community in a beautiful way. Absolutely. Yes. And that's a great point. Minnesota has always been seen as a trailblazer, although we're their 23rd state to legalize cannabis.

We are very unique in our laws. Specifically, we know advocacy is huge in Minnesota and the diversity component really addresses prohibition and racism and that aspect of it. Can you talk about how unique Minnesota has been with really addressing that again, which we haven't seen other states really addressing that point.

You're so right. And I should have, I should have responded that earlier. Yes. So we've got the social equity parts of our bill and other states have You know experimented with social equity kind of provisions as they legalize. So I think Minnesota hopefully has learned from some of those mistakes.

What, what I mean by the social equity stuff for folks that might not know. I know you know, Shana. When you apply for a license the OCM is going to score those applications. And they will give. And some of the points, up to 20 percent of the points, or at least 20 percent of the points under the bill are reserved for social applicant, social equity applicant criteria.

Okay. Okay. And those include, importantly, people who have been directly impacted by the war on drugs. And you know, don't, don't quote me on the exact name, which is I don't have the bill in front of me here. I should have brought it. It could have, you know, been paging through on, on in audio.

But anyway, so, so, making sure that those people who the war on drugs really harmed have an ability to come back and set up successful businesses in this area. There are also other pieces of social equity, including areas that are, You know, below a certain poverty level folks who come from those areas in Minnesota.

Veterans who were discharged because of cannabis stuff and emerging farmers. So I, you know, I, I applaud Minnesota's efforts to to give those kinds of folks a leg up in the licensing process as well. We'll, we'll kind of see how that plays. out in practice a little bit. But you know, it was certainly a thoughtful attempt and we'll see how it goes.

Great. Well, that's a great point. So thank you for providing clarity and we do have information on our website. If you want to learn more about the bill, we encourage people to please read the bill. People take time to read it. So you're, you're well educated, which leads to a segue. Can you just tell us, Ms.

Jen, like, what are some final thoughts as we move forward here on August 3rd? What can we anticipate? Like, what are some things or like, your feelings towards as we, we, we progress towards legalization? Yeah. You know, this is going to continue to be a fast moving thing. I'm really looking forward to seeing who Governor Walz appoints to be, to lead the Office of Cannabis Management.

And then they'll be able to, you know, really dive into the rulemaking process. I expect that we're going to see more guidance come out from the regulators. And again, as the lawyer, right, I feel like part of my responsibility is to be right on top of that stuff and be the one figuring out who, which of my clients that applies to and help get that information out into the marketplace.

That may also mean some things. We thought it was true or not true, which makes me nervous as I record this podcast with you because, you know, I always want to be saying what's exactly right. But probably some things that I think are not going to turn out to work under the law and we're just going to have to all stay tuned.

I was about to say, let's stay tuned and make sure you're following the news. following us. We will always keep you well informed. So thank you again, Miss Jen for joining us here again. Miss Jen Risa from North Star Law Group. Can you tell people how we can get in contact with you? And learn more about your great work in the cannabis space and as we progress here with legalization in the state.

Yeah. Thanks, Jaina. So we've finally got our website up at northstar law. com. And I encourage people, yes, to check us out, to reach out to me. If there's things that people want to scope out. With me, or if they're ready to get started launching and building their business, I am talking to tons of entrepreneurs every day, and I'm just so excited to be in space.

What parting words would you leave for us as we move forward here on August 3rd and what we can look forward to in the upcoming months? Yes, I mean, I think this is going to be A continuing story. I am really looking forward to being back here on Northern Lights and to talking to entrepreneurs at events.

If people want to reach out to me specifically, they can find me at northstar law. com. And. I'm excited to be part of growing a craft cannabis industry in Minnesota. So northstar law. com. That's us. We can reach you. All right. So thank you again. We'll have all of this information loaded on our website.

And don't forget to follow us on our social media channels. And thank you, Ms. Jen, again for joining us. Oh, thanks for having me. Thank you. Do you have a question that you want Attorney Jen Riza to answer or explain further on Northern Lights? Email them today to info at mn cannabis college. org. She'll be back in just a few weeks.

So send in your questions today. When we come back, we'll be hearing a few interviews that we conducted live at Canna Connect. Stay tuned.

We're here live at Canna Connect, July 29th, 2023, an opportunity to meet with people in the industry, to meet with people interested in becoming part of the industry, really just an all around great time. We wanted to chat with some of the vendors here, some people that are making the cannabis industry awesome.

And we're starting off with an interview with Jamie Croyle of House of Oilworks. Let's hear that now.

Alright, we're here at CannaConnect. Hi there, Jamie. How's it going? Fine. How are you, Tanner? Doing very well. Doing well. How is it out here at CannaConnect this year? It was poppin this year. There's a lot of new people. There's a lot of new places popping up. There's an agricultural area. I really like how, like, there's an area for ancillary.

A little area for retail and then eggs. Super cool. Absolutely awesome. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us today. Any cool product or release or any exciting announcement you're looking forward to in the next couple of weeks, months? Any excitement? Oh, gosh, yeah. So the House of Oilworks will be attending a lot of things.

So on Tuesday, we'll be at Legalized It. On Saturday, we'll be right here at Summer School. Woo! We'll be on a panel with some great people. And then what else is going on? We also have my Lemon Lavender Chocolate. Such an amazing, nice, creamy white chocolate. Available in more and more stores, but always at HouseOfOilWorks.

com. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Jamie. I appreciate it.

All right, we're here at CannaConnect. So who am I talking to right now? Well, hello, Tanner. You are talking to Erin Wallach from CannaJoy MN. Awesome. And tell us a little bit about what CannaJoy MN is. CannaJoy MN is a premium seed bank in South Minneapolis, and we also sell Minnesota and Midwest made hemp derived products.

So as HomeGrow comes on August 1st, You can get your seeds at our store and some hemp products to tide you over till you get your harvest. I love that. So I've been asking a lot of people today, like, what's something you're looking forward to over the next couple of weeks, next couple of months?

Sounds like you guys have a lot to look forward to. I think it's really an exciting time for Minnesota. It is humbling how close we are to August 1st. I am looking forward to being able to meet more people in the community who have been growers who want to be growers. Be able to share information, learn and grow together.

I think we are excited about meeting people where they're at on their seed and weed journey. And we welcome you to CannaJoy MN to come and visit. Awesome. Well, Erin, thank you so much for talking to us today. Thank you, Tanner.

So we are here today with Carol Moth. Tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do in the cannabis industry. My name, I'm a partner at Helmuth Johnson, and I primarily work in the hemp and cannabis space, and so I had a week here, and let me just say, I ran into so many friends. It was so awesome.

I love that. Yeah, definitely a great community here today. Yeah. Any, anything you're looking forward to over the next couple of weeks, months? Well, I'm really looking forward to August 1st, obviously but then in the next couple of weeks and a couple of months, just meeting with people, there's so much excitement in what Minnesota has cooking.

And then I also serve on the board for the National Association of Women Business Owners, so we're kind of enfolding a lot of women owned cannabis businesses, and so it's really exciting seeing these women just knock it out of the park with their products. Their ingenuity, just the support that they give, the leadership, it's just been a lot of fun.

And so I look forward to more of that in the future. Wonderful, alright, well so much Carol, we appreciate it. Alright, have a good day. We have an interview here with Gabriel from Moon Lab.

Alright, thanks Gabe, we appreciate it. Alright, we're here at

CannaConnect with Bridget of Grounded Garden. Bridget, how's it going? It's fabulous. Tell us a little bit about how CannaConnect has been for you guys today. We had a great day. Lots of people. People were eager to see us and meet us. So it was a fantastic day for us and we sold lots of stuff. I love that.

And then I already know an answer to this question, but I gotta ask you. What couple of things are you looking forward to over the next couple of weeks, months coming out of Grounded Gardens? Oh my gosh, we're so excited. So August 1st in a few days, we are opening our brand new lounge and we are excited to bring the community together in our lounge and a safe space for cannabis users.

We will have a smoking space out front and inside we will be featuring kite soda. We will be featuring cultivated and some other amazing products from our cannabis friends around Minnesota. Awesome. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today. Enjoy the rest of your Canada Connect.

So we are here at CannaConnect with DJ Lowe, right? Yeah, big blessings. Hi, y'all. DJ Logo coach entertainment. Hi. So tell us a little bit about how you got here. How are you connected to the cannabis industry? Oh, man. A big shout out to Steven over here. Can it connect? Man, honestly, it was my boy Brent. He ended up connecting with me when this happened the first time a couple months ago, and it was just a beautiful time.

We came here, got some knowledge, got a high as hell off of all the samples and edibles and Gotta met all these amazing vendors and what, what's going on over here. Speaking into August 1st, which is going to be a big day for everybody. Absolutely. I heard you just a couple minutes ago remind our vendors, it's important to not forget to tip your DJ, especially with some samples.

Is there, obviously there's too many good products to shout out all of them. Is there a product you've sampled today that's been just like, total knockout of the park, one you want to shout out? Yo, big shout out to Hybrid Hybrid Nation Jeremy and then got an amazing orange drink. Also Modest Brewery's got a good one, what was the other one, Piff, Piff Drinks.

There's also this one that we just got, Fizzy Mints. It's like 50mg of THC and they got one you can put in your drinks as well, so I'm excited for that. Also, Cake and Bake, those mushrooms. Mushrooms, like chocolates, were amazing. I mean, honestly, if you didn't come here and you didn't try any of the food, shame on you.

Because there's amazing delicacies here. I love that. Awesome. And if people want to learn a little bit more about DJ Lo, get in contact with you, how would they connect with you? Yeah Instagram, you can go ahead, DJ Lo, underscore DJ Lo. Gold Culture Entertainment found me on my website, gold culture.

com. I'm here, I'm around. I love to give the people low, you know, so until next time, let's get high. Awesome. Thank you. We really appreciate it.

And that's all we have for today. Big thank you to Canna Connect for having us out. Thanks to all of you for listening, and we'll be back again in two weeks. Remember, in the meantime, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and LinkedIn. And be sure to subscribe to get new episodes sent directly to you as soon as they're released.

See you in a couple weeks.

Northern Lights is a Minnesota Cannabis College production. This episode was produced by me, Tanner Barris, and by my co host, Shana Payton. Production assistance from Marcus Harkus and John Bartee. Special thank you to Jen Rise of Northstar Law Group for sharing her expertise and for joining us on this journey.

The information provided in this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice, but instead for general information purposes only. Information shared may not constitute the most up to date legal for other information. No listener should act solely on the basis of the information provided without first seeking advice from their own legal counsel.

Please listen responsibly.