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MN Cannabis Hub Podcast

MN Cannabis Hub Podcast

Written by: MN Cannabis Hub
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Minnesota's weekly cannabis news, dispensary updates, and policy briefings. Recreational and medical, OCM moves, new strains, dispensary openings, and the people running the industry. Brought to you by mncannabishub.com and Leafwell (code MNHUB — $99 medical card visits).© 2026 MN Cannabis Hub. All rights reserved. Alternative & Complementary Medicine Hygiene & Healthy Living Politics & Government
Episodes
  • MN Cannabis July 2026: OCM Dashboard, Lab Crunch, Omnibus & Anoka

    MN Cannabis July 2026: OCM Dashboard, Lab Crunch, Omnibus & Anoka
    Jul 3 2026
    Matilda and co-host break down Minnesota's July 2026 cannabis landscape: OCM's public licensing dashboard, a testing-lab bottleneck, the freshly signed omnibus bill, and new municipal and tribal dispensaries. Plus a fair, non-hyped look at myrcene. In this episode: OCM dashboard: 240 licenses issued of 3,541 applicants; 1,332 preliminarily approved, 527 qualified, 387 denied.July 1, 2026 decision point: OCM can evaluate releasing licenses beyond current caps based on market data.Legend Technical Services ended cannabis testing around June 16, 2026 — MN drops from five labs to four (three fully licensed); expect July retail delays.Governor Walz signed the 2026 Cannabis Omnibus (HF 4203 / SF 4401) on May 26, merging medical and adult-use supply chains and creating a "macrobusiness" license effective Jan. 1, 2027.One owner can now hold hemp and cannabis licenses in the same space — a state bridge ahead of the federal 0.4 mg/container hemp-THC ban on Nov. 12, 2026.Anoka opened Minnesota's first municipal (city-run) dispensary Feb. 6, 2026; Osseo targeting a municipal store by year-end.Flame and Flora, a Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community dispensary, opened in Prior Lake on April 11, 2026 under the tribe's ordinance.Myrcene 101: the most abundant cannabis terpene (also in mango, hops, thyme) — muscle-relaxing and sedative effects documented in preclinical animal research from Federal University of Ceará.Upcoming events: Legacy Cup at Surly Festival Field (Sept. 26), Lucky Leaf Expo Minneapolis, and CannaFest at The Lowlands, St. Paul (Nov. 12). Sources: OCM license dashboard news releaseOCM news releases (testing lab update)Foley Hoag: Walz signs cannabis omnibusMPR News: new cannabis/hemp lawsMPR News: Anoka municipal dispensaryCBS Minnesota: Flame and Flora opens in Prior LakeLeafly: Myrcene terpene guideTwin City Cannabis: Legacy Cup & eventsLucky Leaf Expo MinneapolisCannaFest at The LowlandsOCM social equity applicant qualifications Subscribe: mncannabishub.com Full transcript Will: —and that's the thing, Matilda, like, the OCM dashboard finally being public? That's a big deal. People kept saying it was a black box. Matilda: Right, and now you can actually SEE the numbers. What was it, two-forty licenses issued out of over three thousand applicants? Will: Two-forty out of three thousand five hundred forty-one. And thirteen-thirty-two are preliminarily approved. Matilda: Okay so preliminarily approved means... what, exactly? Because I feel like every time we talk about this, the words change. Will: Fair. So preliminarily approved is basically, "you passed the first gate." Then there's a "qualified" bucket — five-twenty-seven of them — doing background checks and labor peace agreements. Matilda: Labor peace. That's the union piece, yeah? Will: Yeah. Basically the operator agrees not to interfere if workers wanna organize. It's a real hoop. Matilda: And how many got denied? Will: Three-eighty-seven denied. Which... is a lot of people who thought they were in. Matilda: Ope. That's rough. Will: It IS rough. But honestly, better to know than to keep dumping money into an application that's not gonna land. Matilda: Sure, but — okay, push back on you for a sec. Is a public dashboard actually helpful to a normal person? Or is it just, like, transparency theater? Will: Transparency theater. I love that. Matilda: I'm serious though. Will: No, it's a fair hit. For a shopper it doesn't change much. For an applicant or an investor, it's huge. You can see the pipeline. Matilda: Okay, I'll give you that. Will: And here's the piece I actually care about — starting July 1st, OCM can look at the market data and decide whether to release MORE licenses beyond the current caps. Matilda: Wait, that's this month. Will: That's THIS month. Like, right now. Matilda: So we could see the cap crack open. Will: Could. Not saying will. But that's the decision point everybody in the industry's watching. Matilda: Interesting. Okay, related — the testing lab situation. Explain that to me like I don't already know. Will: Yeah, so. Every cannabis product that hits a shelf in Minnesota has to pass third-party lab testing. Matilda: For potency, contaminants, all that. Will: Right. We had five labs. One of 'em — Legend Technical Services — stopped doing cannabis testing around June sixteenth. Matilda: So we're down to four. Will: Four. Three of which are fully licensed. Matilda: Cool, cool, cool. So the bottleneck just got tighter right as more product's trying to move. Will: You got it. Expect retail delays through July. Tighter inventory. Some SKUs just... won't be on shelves for a minute. Matilda: And that's not the dispensary's fault. Will: Not at all. That's supply chain. Wildflower North Loop, Green Goods in Bloomington, Edina Canna — any of 'em could hit gaps. Matilda: So if you walk in and your usual gummy's out — don't yell at the budtender. Will: Please don't yell at the budtender. Matilda: Minnesota ...
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    12 mins
  • MN Cannabis June 2026: Walz Omnibus, Anoka & Osseo Municipal Stores, OCM Licensing

    MN Cannabis June 2026: Walz Omnibus, Anoka & Osseo Municipal Stores, OCM Licensing
    Jun 26 2026
    Will and the crew break down the busiest month yet for Minnesota cannabis — from Gov. Walz's landmark omnibus bill to the state's first city-run dispensary. Here's everything moving in the MN market as of June 26, 2026. In this episode: OCM has issued 240 licenses out of 3,541 applicants, with 1,332 preliminarily approved and 527 in "qualified" status finishing background checks and labor peace agreements.Gov. Walz signed the 105-page 2026 Omnibus Cannabis Bill on May 26, merging medical and adult-use supply chains so one facility can serve both.The new "macrobusiness" license replaces the medical combo license and caps indoor flowering canopy at 38,000 sq ft (down from 90,000).Starting Aug 1, hemp retailers can sell "large-format" THC beverages — 750 mL+ child-resistant bottles, 17+ servings at up to 5 mg THC each — bridging to the Nov 12 federal hemp-THC restriction.Anoka Cannabis Company, the state's first government-run store, opened Feb 6; Osseo is on deck as the second municipal store with Voyageur Cannabis Services.Flame and Flora opened in Prior Lake in April, owned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community on tribal land.Legend Technical Services, MN's oldest licensed cannabis testing lab, exited the industry — leaving only three full-panel labs statewide.OCM's CanGrow program has $2M for farmers entering the legal market; plus a myrcene deep-dive and a heads-up on the Legacy Cup at Surly Festival Field on Sept 26. Sources: OCM Lottery ResultsOCM Cannabis Market Monitor launchFoley Hoag: Walz signs cannabis omnibusMN House Session Daily: large-format THC beveragesMPR News: Anoka municipal dispensaryMJBizDaily: MN municipal dispensariesCBS News: Flame and Flora in Prior LakeCann.dev: MN cannabis licensing June 2026OCM CanGrow programPeer-reviewed myrcene arthritis studyMinnesota Monthly: Legacy Cup Subscribe: mncannabishub.com Full transcript Will: —and that's the thing, like, you can actually walk into a city-run store now and buy flower. In Minnesota. That's wild to me. Matilda: Anoka, right? The municipal one. Will: Anoka Cannabis Company, yeah. Opened back in February. Matilda: And it's literally the city? Like, the city of Anoka is your budtender's boss? Will: Pretty much. It's the first government-run cannabis store in the state. Flower, vapes, edibles, drinks — the whole deal. Matilda: Ope. That's a sentence I didn't think I'd hear in my lifetime. Will: Right? Matilda: I mean, good for them, but also... it's a little surreal. Your tax dollars are now, like, stocking shelves with gummies. Will: And Osseo's next. Matilda: Wait, Osseo too? Will: Yeah, Osseo's lining up to be the second municipal store. They're partnering with Voyageur Cannabis Services to actually run it. Targeting sometime mid-year. Matilda: Huh. Okay. So the model's spreading. Will: It's spreading. And on top of that you've got Flame and Flora — that opened in Prior Lake in April. Matilda: That's the Shakopee Mdewakanton one? Will: Yep. Owned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, sitting on tribal land. Matilda: So in a couple months we got — government store, tribal store, and a bunch of private folks all trying to open at once. Will: It is a moment. It really is. Matilda: And meanwhile the OCM is just... drowning. Will: Well — drowning's one word. Working through it is another. Matilda: Will. Come on. Will: Okay, okay. The numbers ARE a lot. Matilda: Walk me through it. Because every time I look at the dashboard my eyes glaze over. Will: So mid-June, the Office of Cannabis Management — that's the OCM — they've issued two-hundred-forty licenses. Matilda: Out of? Will: Out of three-thousand-five-hundred-forty-one applicants. Matilda: Wait — say that again? Will: Three-thousand-five-hundred-forty-one people applied. Two-forty have actual licenses. Matilda: That is... a brutal ratio. Will: It's a ratio. But there's more to it. About thirteen-hundred have been preliminarily approved. Another five-hundred-twenty-seven are in this "qualified" status, doing background checks and labor peace agreements. Matilda: Okay so it's not like only two-forty got past the velvet rope. There's a pipeline. Will: There's a pipeline. There's also three-hundred-eighty-seven that got denied, and another seven-hundred-thirty-six that just didn't get picked in the capped-license lotteries. Matilda: Right, the lotteries. Because some license types are capped. Will: Capped, yeah. Matilda: Cool, cool. So you can do everything right and just... lose a raffle. Will: Welcome to regulated cannabis. Matilda: Uff da. Will: But — credit where it's due — OCM did launch this public Cannabis Market Monitor dashboard. You can actually go look at licensing, retail sales, production metrics. Like, the data's out there. Matilda: That's actually nice. Will: It's nice! It's transparent. I'll take it. Matilda: Okay so that's the licensing side. What about the big bill? Will: The omnibus. Matilda: The omnibus. Will: Walz signed it ...
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    16 mins
  • 2026 MN Cannabis Omnibus, THC Beverages & Anoka Dispensary

    2026 MN Cannabis Omnibus, THC Beverages & Anoka Dispensary
    Jun 19 2026
    Minnesota's cannabis landscape just got re-shuffled. We break down the 2026 Cannabis Omnibus Bill, the new THC beverage rules hitting bars Aug. 1, and the latest dispensary openings from Anoka to Prior Lake. In this episode: Gov. Tim Walz signed the 2026 Cannabis Omnibus Bill on May 26, 2026, merging Minnesota's medical and adult-use supply chains into one unified system.The new "macrobusiness" license replaces the medical combination license held by Green Thumb Industries and Vireo Health.Starting Aug. 1, 2026, hemp retailers can sell THC beverages in resealable bottles of 750 mL+ with 17+ servings — opening the bar and restaurant channel.A new "Ratio Hemp-Infused Cannabis Product" category lifts edibles to 10 mg per serving and 200 mg per package.Federal hemp redefinition takes effect Nov. 12, 2026; dual hemp/cannabis licensure gives MN hemp operators a runway into the regulated market.Anoka Cannabis Company — Minnesota's first municipally-owned adult-use dispensary — opened Feb. 2026 at 839 East River Road; Flame and Flora opened in Prior Lake on Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community land in April; Osseo is expected mid-2026.OCM is reviewing LPHE applications on a rolling basis; up to 25 cultivator, 12 manufacturer, and 75 retailer social-equity licenses may be issued before July 1, 2026.CanRenew will award $15M/year starting 2026 to social-equity communities, plus a Myrcene 101 terpene primer grounded in recent NIH-indexed research. Sources: Foley Hoag — Walz signs landmark cannabis omnibus billHarris Sliwoski — Minnesota's new cannabis and hemp lawsMPR News — Anoka municipal cannabis dispensaryCBS News — Flame and Flora opens in Prior LakeMJBizDaily — Minnesota's first municipal cannabis dispensaryMinnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM)Minnesota DEED — Cannabis business programsCannabis Business Times — CanRenew grant recipientsLucky Leaf Expo MinneapolisNECANN Minnesota Cannabis ConventionNIH — β-myrcene anxiolytic effects studyNIH — 2025 entourage effect review Subscribe: mncannabishub.com Full transcript Will: ...so I'm standing in line at the co-op, right, and the guy in front of me is asking the cashier if they sell the THC seltzers yet. Matilda: At the co-op? Will: At the co-op. And she's like, sir, no, but have you tried our kombucha. And he goes, ma'am, that is NOT the same thing. Matilda: I mean... he's not wrong. Will: He's not wrong! But that's kinda where we are right now, Matilda. Everybody's confused about what you can buy, where you can buy it, and when it actually shows up on a shelf. Matilda: Yeah, and I think a lot of that confusion just got... I wouldn't say cleared up, but at least re-shuffled. Walz signed the big omnibus bill, what, a few weeks back? Will: May 26. The 2026 Cannabis Omnibus. And it's a big one — like, structurally big. Matilda: Okay so unpack that for me. Because every time somebody says "omnibus" my eyes glaze over. Will: Fair. So the headline is — Minnesota used to have two separate supply chains. Medical on one side, adult-use on the other. Totally different rules, different operators. Matilda: Right, which was always kind of weird. Will: Super weird. This bill basically merges them into one unified system. One supply chain, one rulebook. Matilda: Okay. And what happens to the medical guys? Because there were only, like, two of them, right? Will: Two. Green Thumb and Vireo. They had what was called the medical combination license. The new bill creates a thing called a "macrobusiness" license that basically replaces it. Matilda: Macrobusiness. Wow, somebody really workshopped that name. Will: I know. It sounds like a Costco tier. Matilda: It does! Like, you've got small business, medium, macro. Will: But functionally — those two operators now sit inside the same framework as everybody else, just at a larger scale. Matilda: Okay. So... does that mean more product variety for a regular person walking into a dispensary? Will: Eventually, yeah. The whole point is you don't have this weird wall where medical flower is over here and adult-use is over there with totally different testing rules and labels. Matilda: Got it. Okay, but I'll be honest — the part of this bill I actually care about? Will: What. Matilda: The THC beverages thing. Will: Of course. Matilda: Listen. I'm a consumer. Tell me what changes for me. Will: Okay so — starting August 1, hemp retailers can sell THC beverages in big resealable bottles. We're talking 750 milliliters or more, 17-plus servings per bottle. Matilda: Wait. Like a wine bottle. Will: Like a wine bottle. Exactly like a wine bottle. Matilda: Ope, that's actually huge. Will: Right? Because right now, if you go to a bar or a restaurant, you're getting these little single-serve cans. Which are fine, but... Matilda: But they're spendy. Like, eight bucks for a can? Will: Spendy. And from the operator's side, the margins are rough and the storage is a pain. Matilda: So a bartender can now pour a ...
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    16 mins
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