First Government-Run Marijuana Store In Minnesota Will Open Next Week, Local Officials Say

The first government-run marijuana retailer in Minnesota is set to open its
doors next week, local officials say.

After getting cleared to build the facility, the city of Anoka said it has
completed construction and is ready to become operational beginning on
Wednesday, February 6. Anoka is one of more than a dozen Minnesota cities
aiming to manage its own dispensary.

“Our residents want a safe, vibrant, and well-maintained community while
keeping taxes as low as practicable,” Mayor Erik Skogquist (D) said in a
press release. “Anoka Cannabis Company allows the City of Anoka to do just
that.”

“We aim to safely control the sale of a regulated substance, set a high bar
for others to follow, and use profits to lessen taxpayer burdens while
further investing in the community,” he said. “These opportunities rarely
come along, and in Anoka, we are capitalizing on it to make sure that all
18,000 residents see the benefits.”

While lawmakers outside of Minnesota have previously floated proposals to
have state-run dispensaries, that’s been met with resistance in states like
Pennsylvania. But Anoka sees a unique opportunity to demonstrate how
municipal government can leverage legalization in a way that more directly
benefits local residents and initiatives.

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*Here are the details on the opening schedule for Minnesota’s first
government-run marijuana store:*

- Community Open House – Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
No cannabis sales during this event.
- Ribbon Cutting Ceremony – Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, 2 p.m.
- Opening Day – Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, 10 a.m.
Open to the public by appointment only. Appointments can be scheduled at
AnokaCannabis.com.
- Grand Opening Event – Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, 12 p.m.- 4 p.m.

“At Anoka Cannabis Company, education is at the heart of our mission,”
Stephanie Rietz, the dispensary’s manager, said. “We want our customers to
feel empowered and informed through their cannabis journey, all while
knowing their purchase benefits the community. We want to set a new
standard for what community-centered, responsible cannabis access can look
like.”

This marks of the latest developments in Minnesota’s marijuana program
since the governor signed legalization into law in 2023.

Last September, for example, Minnesota officials granted the state’s
first-ever marijuana event organizer license, allowing adults to buy and
consume cannabis products on-site at a festival. The first non-tribal
marijuana shops opened for sales to adults 21 and older earlier that month.

Also last year, the Minnesota city of Eden Prairie sought suggestions from
residents on what to name a new, government-branded cannabis gummy product
to be sold at municipal liquor stores.

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Minnesota’s House of Representatives circulated a poll at last year’s State
Fair that asked attendees about the idea of allowing localities to enact
bans on marijuana businesses within their borders. Most respondents who
have an opinion on the issue agree with the policy, despite it not
currently being a part of the state’s cannabis laws.

Ahead of the enactment of legalization in Minnesota, lawmakers’ separate
State Fair polls found majority support for the reform.

The governor has also selected a top cannabis regulator for the state who
will oversee the adult-use market rollout. Last June, June, the state
Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) issued the state’s first recreational
marijuana license for a cultivation microbusiness.

OCM said at the time that it’s taking further steps to build up in the
industry and create opportunities to entrepreneurs, including opening a new
licensing window for cannabis testing facilities, accepting the first
applications for marijuana event licenses and verifying more social equity
status requests.

Separately, after Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to end the
criminalization of bong water containing trace amount of drugs, the
governor signed the measure into law last May.

The change addresses an existing policy that had allowed law enforcement to
treat quantities of bong water greater than four ounces as equivalent to
the pure, uncut version of whatever drug the device was used to consume.


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Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said last month that the state is “exploring”
how to respond to an impending federal ban on hemp THC products, which
would be “very disruptive” to a “thriving industry.”

At the congressional level, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith
(D-MN), along with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), addressed the forthcoming hemp
prohibition, which they said should be corrected by replacing that policy
with a regulatory framework similar to what Minnesota has implemented at
the state level to prevent youth access and ensure product safety for
adults.

Klobuchar, the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, called
it a “pivotal moment for many farmers, workers and small business owners
who have built our state’s successful hemp industry.”

The senator touted the fact that she helped secure language in
appropriations legislation that provides grant funding for the University
of Minnesota to explore novel ways to utilize hemp for industrial purposes
such as construction materials and pet bedding.

Minnesota’s Democratic top prosecutor, Keith Ellison, was one of 39 state
and territory counterparts who sent a letter to congressional leaders
earlier this month that voiced support for the hemp provisions of the
spending bill President Donald Trump signed. Ellison later defended his
decision, in part by arguing that states with regulations in place for
cannabinoid products like Minnesota should not have to worry about hemp
entering their market from unregulated, out-of-state operators.

*Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.*

The post First Government-Run Marijuana Store In Minnesota Will Open Next
Week, Local Officials Say appeared first on Marijuana Moment.