Two years after Governor Walz signed legislation into law, the first recreational cannabis sale was made Tuesday.
"The first recreational sale was recorded September 16th in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a green goods dispensary," said Office of Cannabis Management's Eric Taubel.
While he says many have thought this day long overdue in the state, Taubel doesn't see it that way.
"Universally, the experience we were told when we stepped into the role at the Office of Cannabis Management to launch this market was that about 20 states had done this before us," Taubel explains. "No one had gotten it right yet, and that we should learn from the mistakes other states made. So what we really focused on wasn't, how do we launch this the fastest, but how do we launch a market that year-over-year, will be able to grow."
Taubel said he expects to see substantial numbers of sales within the first six months to a year.
"We're very excited," he adds. "We've been working diligently for two years on a number of different work streams, to try to bring together a cannabis market that has a lot of different avenues for people to participate and succeed."
A total of 14 dispensaries across the state are expected to open Tuesday and Wednesday.