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I do. I’m with a group of companies. We have a transportation license, five dispensary licenses and a manufacturing license.

Were you given any kind of assurance that you would receive a cultivation license?

No. Obviously, nobody can say something like that to you that’s credible. You don’t even have regulations, and it’s a government process.

What are your goals for the project?

Our goal is to return the faith that’s been shown in us through the execution to the people of the Iron Range. This project, in terms of us working with the IRRR, was for us to locate in a place that’s not convenient and logistically very difficult. So we want to create a significant economic enterprise that’s going to bring jobs up there. That was the purpose of seeking the government incentives, and again, going to a place where my partner’s from and creating economic development in an area that has had a lot of issues over the last couple decades or more.

How did you get linked up with your partner?

I have worked internationally a lot. I had a pretty large entertainment development enterprise that I worked in for a lot of years. My partner in the Philippines was from Minnesota. And I said, “Hey, if Minnesota ever legalizes, Kansas City's an hour flight. Minnesota is a great state, if you have somebody you could recommend.” So I actually started working with this partner before the law ever passed. And we started talking, meeting, discussing and it just sort of developed from there. 

When did you first start meeting about cannabis here?

It was two or three months before the law passed. That's a reference point, but it's been more than six months — eight, nine months that we were beginning to study.

Can you explain the lawsuit by your former company? [Mitchell was fired as CEO of the casino and hotel operator Thunderbird Resorts and sued by the company in 2012.]

There were some investors that wanted to basically raid the company and I wouldn’t go along with it. They wanted to not pay me significant amounts of money under my employment agreement. So they accused me of a bunch of things.

Embezzlement, was that one of them?

Yeah. We went to arbitration. I got a judgment where every single factual finding was in my favor, that I never committed any of those. And they paid me a significant, seven-figure judgment. [The Star Tribune reviewed the settlement agreement for the case. Arbitrators with the International Chamber of Commerce decided in Mitchell’s favor and the award included a seven-figure payment to Mitchell.]

I was in the gaming business for 18 years. I’ve been in the cannabis business for five years. I’ve never had even an allegation of any misapplication or a problem with any license I’ve ever had. I’ve never been arrested for even a misdemeanor. I’ve never been accused of anything like that where it’s been substantiated.

With such a large operation that you’re planning up there, are you concerned about finding enough staff to operate it in a rural area?

Yes, that’s going to be a challenge, for sure. I can’t tell you how exciting it was in the last two days, the number of emails I got from people all over the country from that part of the world that want to come back and work there. People from Colorado, Illinois. So we’ll get a lot of that. People like working in these operations, being in a really nice indoor cultivation, where it’s 70 degrees in the winter, taking care of plants and making quite a bit above average area wages. It attracts a lot of great people. 

Did you miss last week’s Nuggets? Read it here.

Nov. 2: Minnesota Monthly CannaFest - "Set in a grand and modern venue, the finest cannabis businesses from across the state will sample and sell THC and CBD foods, beverages, healing products, and more." - Quincy Hall, 1325 Quincy St. N.E., Minneapolis. More info and tickets.

Talk to us! Send feedback on this newsletter, events, questions, story tips or new feature ideas to nuggets@startribune.com

Theresa submitted a photo of this 8-foot monster. She said she isn't sure of the strain, possibly Gorilla Glue. Thanks for sharing, Theresa!

Homegrowers, show off your plants! Share your best photo with us and we'll publish one each week in Nuggets. File size must be at least 1MB. By submitting a photo you are affirming that you own the rights to it and you are granting permission to the Star Tribune to publish it on its platforms.

Star Tribune business reporter Nick Williams wrote an excellent piece earlier this week offering some pointers for those who want to get into the legal marijuana business in Minnesota. 

Nuggets spoke with two longtime legalization advocates currently working in the industry about their businesses. They shared some advice for anyone hoping to get into Minnesota's cannabis industry. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Leili Fatehi
Principal, Blunt Strategies
Former campaign manager, MN Is Ready

Shawn Weber
President, Minnesota Cannabis Growers Cooperative & Industry Council
Owner, Crested River Cannabis Co.

I was let go in September 2020 from my corporate job. Then I just decided to go all in. It started as helping out a friend and family, turned into helping out members of the community, then it just became a full-time gig. Now we cultivate, we manufacture oils, topicals, edibles and beverages. Those products are for our own brand, as well as for a variety of other brands throughout Minnesota.

Fatehi: Laura [Monn Ginsburg] is my business partner. We’ve both been cannabis enthusiasts and consumers for a very long time. Coming out of the 2018 election, we were at a post-Election Night party. I’m looking around and I’m seeing senator so-and-so smoking weed, and this commissioner, all of these folks that are in positions of power feeling very comfortable, like many of us, consuming cannabis while it’s illegal, while people are in jail [for possessing the substance]. That became a motivating factor for us to figure out what it is that we need to do in Minnesota to help the effort to legalize.

Minnesota has one of the oldest histories of grassroots advocacy for legalization of any state. It stems back to the 1950s and 60s, Minnesota had political parties and activists working on this issue. But what was missing was the folks that know how to do that "grasstops" work. So we started Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation. We said we were going to come in and fill in with that skill set that the folks at the grassroots need. At that time, the DFL didn’t have a consistent position on this. It wasn’t even in the party platform. What do we need to do to remedy that situation? That was our foray into it. 

What are you doing now, post-legalization?

Fatehi: We’re a strategic consultancy for the cannabis industry. We’re working with clients to help them prepare their licensing strategies and their compliance plans and helping them figure out their branding and market-entry strategies. And we’re the general contractors for the cannabis growers cooperative, so we’re working with them to set their programmatic vision to grow their membership, to figure out exactly what their ideal role is and helping them identify the folks that can bring in those resources that the industry needs. 

How did the Minnesota Cannabis Growers Cooperative and Industry Council (MCGCIC) come about? 

Weber: The co-op was founded in 2019 by five licensed growers in the metro as well as the southeastern part of the state. At the end of the day, the purpose was to streamline people’s learning curves and to share and allocate resources, in hopes to set up the industry more expeditiously. Now it’s becoming a beacon for legislation, resources, but also helping establish and self-regulate the industry. [The MCGCIC currently has 56 members, Fatehi said.]

What are the benefits of the co-op?

Weber: We’re working on building our resource center. If you’re a member, you’re going to have access to all of our collected data and information. Right now, if you’re just getting into hemp or cannabis, you’re going to need new banking. You’re going to need new insurance. You’re going to need new credit card processors. You’re going to need new e-commerce platforms. We have all of that. We have members that provide those services. We can easily direct interested entrepreneurs to these people. We want to make sure that they’re getting the correct information on the front end, rather than just being sold a bag of goods by someone trying to make a sale. We’re going to be selling cooperative goods through e-commerce and we’re going to be working on a cooperative manufacturing facility so there are ways for us to generate revenue.

What advice or cautions would you give to someone who wants to get into the industry?

Fatehi: I think the most important thing for anyone that wants to enter Minnesota’s cannabis industry, regardless of what their level of pre-existing knowledge is, is to get involved with the local community — both the cannabis cultural community and the industry community. There’s a real communitarian spirit among industry members. They see the out-of-state MSOs [multi-state operators] as their competition. They don’t see each other as competition. The best thing you can do is show up, so people understand that you care about the local stakeholders, and you want to be involved in that work. But it’s also where you’re going to find your most meaningful advice and information, from the other players who already have some experience in the local industry. 

Weber: When someone says they want to get into the industry, I ask them why. A lot of people say it’s because it’s cool, or they want to try it. Some people cut to the chase and say they want to make money. I tell them right away, you will not make money. Do not grow anything unless you plan on using it yourself, or you have someone willing to buy it before you plant it. I’m dealing with a couple farmers up north, they cannot find a buyer for their hemp flower. Your next option is to process it and create products and try to sell them yourself. That is very difficult to do. So unless you want to add significant value to your crop you’re not going to make any money doing this. You need to understand that there are 100,000 people with the same brilliant idea that you have. And half of those people already know what they're doing. The path of least resistance would be to open a retail store, because people are looking to buy from you. But if you take a look at the registered businesses, there are quite a few retail outlets out there. At some point, there is going to be a saturation point where people are forced to lower their prices to try to gain more revenue. At that point, it’s a race to the bottom. It’s a very volatile industry.

I'm mainly talking about the current hemp industry. The marijuana industry is going to be different, at least at the start. But if someone is actually hell-bent, it all still stays the same. What do you want to do? How do you want to do it? The one thing I can say with certainty is the more organically you start and grow, the more sustainable and successful you will be. I will put my money on someone that starts a company with $5,000 over someone that starts a company with $100,000, any day. 

What are the most common questions you’re hearing?

Fatehi: Capital is the big question for folks. A lot of clients are coming in asking, “Where do we get the investments that we need?” Because you can’t go get a bank loan. That continues to be a frontline issue that we’re going to need to address for a lot of these businesses. Figuring how to get capital and how to build an investment community. The timeline for rulemaking is also of great concern, especially for folks that aren’t capitalized when they’re trying to figure out how to set their business up. They need to be cautious about how they’re allocating their resources, acquiring property and stuff like that. 

How do you see the future of the hemp-derived market as the recreational cannabis industry comes online?

Weber: I think it’s going to continue to be a robust, very lucrative industry. You are going to have an entire segment of consumers that are not interested in marijuana. They are not going to want to go to dispensaries. I would envision about 25% of Crested River’s current customer base will participate in recreational marijuana. The rest of our customer base will stick with the low-potency edibles, the CBD topicals. We have an entire population that’s been on opioids and painkillers and pharmaceuticals. It’s been quite interesting, in the last six months to a year, they’re coming to us saying, “My doctors are taking me off my medication and they’re transitioning to these low-potency edibles and CBD products. Those are not the same customers that the recreational industry is going to see. 

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Answers to questions from readers

Q: Can an adult give cannabis to another adult? 

Yes. Minnesota’s cannabis law allows adults 21 or older to gift up to two ounces of marijuana flower, eight grams of concentrate or edibles infused with up to 800 milligrams of THC.

Q: Would it be legal to grow in your private residence if your house is located close to a school, provided it would not be in plain sight?

The law does not include any additional restrictions on home growing for individuals who live near schools. Adults 21 or older may grow a total of eight plants, with no more than four flowering at the same time, at their residence. Plants must be kept in an enclosed, locked space that is not open to public view. 

Q: Can an individual sell marijuana they grew in their home?

No. Under the law, it is illegal to sell any amount of marijuana without a license.

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