DULUTH – Legacy Cannabis is scheduled to open today in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood — and its owners are being cheeky about when they will start selling.
The cannabis microbusiness, with flower grown by the White Earth Nation, is open to the public at 4:20 p.m., a nod to the slang associated with pot smoking.
“It’s been a journey,” said Josh Wilken-Simon, who started the company selling glass pipes at music festivals before opening brick-and-mortar shops that in recent years have offered low-potency hemp beverages and edibles.
The shop on W. Superior Street has been prepared for weeks, right down to a license from the city posted on the wall. A sign in the window indicated opening was days away. And inside, the space was reconfigured for an employee to check IDs as shoppers came through the door.
Since then, the process has been slowed by making sure the tribe’s laws sync with state laws.
Dispensaries in Minnesota can sell adult-use cannabis grown only within the state, which has created the potential for supply hiccups. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe signed its paperwork alongside Gov. Tim Walz last week. It’s the second tribe in the state, following White Earth months earlier, to be allowed to open dispensaries outside of tribal lands.
Wilken-Simon said in a news release that the company is aiming to do more than retail sales. They “aim to help remove the stigma around cannabis by fostering a welcoming environment rooted in education, respect and community.”