The History of Cannabis in Minnesota
Minnesota has long been a major destination for drug traffickers across the country. From California to Texas, traffickers have known that if you can get your cannabis to Minnesota, you’re guaranteed a payout. This has been the black market mantra since the inception of cannabis consumption, leading to widespread trafficking usually by low to middle-income cannabis consumers that are looking at first for a free supply of cannabis by selling to there richer friends.
Today, we enjoy a variety of cannabis products like live rosin, high-grade indoor cannabis, and pre-rolls infused with live rosin—treats we often take for granted. But how did we get here? I often hear myself telling the youth how lucky they are to be able to get all these high quality treats, but the access to these high quality cannabis products and the abundance of cannabis everywhere is squeezing the same dealers that started the taste for cannabis in America OUT! Here is a brief synopsis on how this is all been happening over the last 30 years in Minnesota cannabis market:
Up until the late 1990s, Minnesota mostly received “Mexican brick weed.” In California, it was priced at $200-$350 per load, while in Minneapolis during the 1990s, it sold for $650-$850 per pound, depending on quality. Back then, “quality” often referred only to the brightness of the cannabis’s green color. The cannabis was always compressed into bricks and wrapped in saran wrap and then sometimes coated with Vaseline to mask the smell. High-level dealers would simply orchestrate the loads, making hundreds of thousands of dollars. The demand for cannabis in Minnesota was—and still is—legendary. As soon as a load arrived, it was sold.
For example, in the early 2000s, a typical load of cannabis once landed in Minnesota would generate a quick profit. In 2003, one of my drivers was caught with 700 pounds of Mexican brick weed. I paid $350 per pound in California and aimed to sell it for $550 per pound to my biggest customers, who would buy over 100 pounds at a time. This load of cannabis alone would have netted me $140,000 in profit, and such deals were happening at least once a month and remind you I am a 20 year old kid at the time from the suburbs there was 100’s of Me’s in Minnesota at the time.
Then in the late 1990s also saw the emergence of West Coast, California-grown cannabis popping up in Minnesota, particularly from the Emerald Triangle. By 2000, I was regularly traveling to California, where I visited a dispensary on the legendary Haight-Ashbury streets. The owner became a great source for California-grown outdoor cannabis. This marked the beginning of the end for Mexican brick weed in Minnesota’s cannabis market. The higher-quality California cannabis, which didn’t have to cross international borders, was no longer compressed into bricks. By the early 2000s, this superior cannabis was selling for $1,500 per pound and could be flipped in Minnesota for $2,600-$4,000, depending on quality.
Fast forward to today, and while Northern California/Emerald Triangle outdoor cannabis is not as prevalent in Minnesota as it once was it still is here with a price of $400-1000 delivered to Minnesota
Starting in about 2000, Minnesota a saw a significant influx of BC bud, smuggled across the Canadian border, including through the Detroit border. This was one of the most profitable schemes of all, and many became millionaires from it. Cannabis prices have always been influenced by the law; the less stricter the enforcement, the cheaper the cannabis.
Organized crime in Canada realized that cannabis cultivation was treated much more leniently in Canada compared to the stiff sentences given to their American counterparts. So, it made sense to grow the cannabis in Canada and smuggle it across the world’s longest border. The profits were immense, with top-quality indoor BC bud fetching $4,800 per pound in Minnesota, while the cost in Canada was around $1,000 after the exchange rate. One notable federal case is the “Pot Pipeline,” which was typical of the early 2000s. Smugglers would buy property on the Minnesota-Canadian border and use snowmobiles or boats to sneak cannabis across the border, avoiding the international checkpoints altogether.
http://www.sitnews.us/0805news/081505/081505_shns_potpipeline.html
Several cases involving semi-trucks carrying over 2,000 pounds of Canadian BC bud to Minnesota have been prosecuted by federal authorities. This type of activity persists even today. In 2020, there was a significant bust at the Detroit border involving over 2,000 pounds of cannabis, with several similar incidents occurring in recent years.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2021/08/02/canadian-trucker-detroit-marijuana-2270-pounds-freed/5430581001/
The legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado marked the beginning of a new era in the American cannabis market. The 2014 legalization should have signaled the end of federal cannabis prohibition, especially with Obama in office. However, many cannabis activists remain disappointed that Obama did not grant clemency to cannabis inmates. As the Biden administration enters its final months, there is renewed hope that federal clemency for these inmates might still happen. Both Biden and Obama have publicly expressed regret over not doing more in this area.
Legalization in Colorado also had a significant impact on Minnesota’s cannabis market. The relaxed grow laws in Colorado were a boon for indoor marijuana growers and boosted confidence among politicians nationwide, leading to more states legalizing cannabis. As more states legalized, Minnesota gained access to an increasing number of cannabis sources. This led to the price of high-grade indoor cannabis in Minnesota dropping to today around $1,000-1600 per pound, a significant decrease from the early 2000s, when even lower-quality indoor cannabis sold in bulk for $4,000 per pound.
In 2023, after years of grassroots activism, recreational cannabis was legalized in Minnesota. Governor Walz, along with a Democrat-controlled House and Senate, pushed cannabis legislation through. The vote passed along party lines in the Senate, with a few Republicans in the House also supporting the bill. As we write this new chapter, it’s important to thank the Democrats for not continuing the war on low-income individuals. Their efforts in granting social equity status and allowing those who had the courage to sell cannabis to their friends to help themselves out of poverty are commendable. I personally have 10 years incarcerated trying to bring the finest cannabis to Minnesota. At age 42 I am retried from illegal behavior and I am grateful for this next stage in Minnesota.