A look inside one of Minnesota's new weed dispensaries

• That includes seven Rise outposts and eight Green Goods dispensaries. Both of those companies have been operating for several years as the state's two medical marijuana providers.

What to expect: Axios checked out the Eagan location of Rise just after doors opened.

🪪 Bring your ID: You will need it to get from the lobby into the store, and again when you check out.

🖥️ Kiosk ordering: A sales floor has empty containers for edibles and flower marijuana. Budtenders will help novice customers choose the strain that is right for them.

• Then, customers can place their order at a kiosk and pick it up at a counter that operates similarly to a pharmacy, with products in the back of the house.

💵 Bring cash or a debit card: Major credit card companies don't allow marijuana purchases.

🫙 Limited brands: For now, there are just two brands of flower: Rythm and Good Green, plus two brands of pre-rolled joints: Dogwalkers and &Shine. Rythm and &Shine also have vape options.

• Rise also sells a few brands of 5mg and 10mg gummies and seltzers.
• All of the cannabis is grown at Rise's Cottage Grove manufacturing facility.

💰 High prices: 3.5-gram containers of flower cost $40 to $50 before the state's new heavy cannabis tax that is layered atop local sales taxes. After taxes, those containers come to $49.95 to $62.44.

• 3.5 grams is roughly an eighth of weed. A friend of Nick's who regularly buys marijuana said you can get an eighth from a dealer for under $30 if bought in a half-ounce bag.

What they're saying: Ben Kovler, CEO of Rise parent company Green Thumb, told Axios he expects prices to come down and consumer choices to expand. In Michigan, for example, 3.5-gram packages are often $20 or $25.

• "Every state has followed the same trajectory, which is when adult use starts, it's pretty much the top [of prices], and then it slowly comes down as more supply comes in."

The state of the market

In addition to the 15 dispensaries that opened this week and the existing ones operated by tribal governments, more could be coming soon.

Why it matters: The Legislature legalized recreational marijuana in 2023 and the Rockefeller Institute of Government says Minnesota has been the third slowest of 24 states to roll out legal weed.

By the numbers: The state has issued 23 licenses to "microbusiness" that intend to sell cannabis. Hundreds more have received preliminary approval, according to the Office of Cannabis Management.

Yes, but: Those businesses are still waiting to get ample supply before opening. Some are already buying from the tribes, which got a head start on growing. Others would like to buy from Rise and Green Goods, but state rules still make it tough to buy from the medical manufacturers, Kovler said.

The other issue, OCM executive director Eric Taubel told Axios, is that the state has issued a license to only one testing facility — in St. Paul — and testing is required before products can be sold from growers and manufacturers to retailers.

• He expects OCM to issue a second license in the next couple weeks, and three or four more could open by the end of the year.
• "The Venn diagram of people that are interested in the cannabis industry and also have a Ph.D. in biochemistry is a pretty small slice," he said. "We've done some outreach to try to identify potential additional applicants."

The big picture: As more businesses begin growing weed, doors will open to new dispensaries.

• "Hopefully in the next coming months we'll continue to have really good success stories as we add those new businesses and build out that supply chain," Taubel said.