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Minneapolis/Saint Paul Busines Journal - The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is weighing converting a closed grocery market into a recreational cannabis dispensary, according to the tribe's banker. Dean Wickstrom, president and CEO of Shakopee's South Metro Federal Credit Union, said the credit union has begun taking steps to set up a cannabis banking business for the tribe's potential dispensary. While the plans are still in the investigatory phase, Wickstrom said the tribe is working with a consultant to look into the possibility of opening up a dispensary in the tribe's Mazopiya grocery market around the end of this year. The grocery store closed last summer. The tribe's economic development administrator, Thad Hellman, said the tribe has been thinking about entering the industry, but did not comment on any specific plans. “The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is always exploring economic development opportunities, and has been carefully considering how it might enter the cannabis industry since Minnesota’s new recreational marijuana law went into effect on Aug. 1, 2023. Specific plans to sell cannabis have not been finalized," Hellman said in an emailed statement. SMSC would be the latest Minnesota tribe to capitalize on the state's legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis. Both the Red Lake and White Earth nations opened dispensaries last year, and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is in the process of constructing a 50,000-square-foot cannabis cultivation facility near the tribe's casino in Onamia. SMSC's potential dispensary would also be the closest one operating to the Twin Cities at 2571 Credit Union Dr. in Prior Lake. Right now, that title is held by the Prairie Island Indian Community, which is opening its own dispensary later this month near Treasure Island Resort & Casino. Outside of reservations, the Office of Cannabis Management is still setting up the state's infrastructure for its full recreational market.
Minneapolis/Saint Paul Busines Journal - The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is weighing converting a closed grocery market into a recreational cannabis dispensary, according to the tribe's banker.
Dean Wickstrom, president and CEO of Shakopee's South Metro Federal Credit Union, said the credit union has begun taking steps to set up a cannabis banking business for the tribe's potential dispensary.
While the plans are still in the investigatory phase, Wickstrom said the tribe is working with a consultant to look into the possibility of opening up a dispensary in the tribe's Mazopiya grocery market around the end of this year. The grocery store closed last summer.
The tribe's economic development administrator, Thad Hellman, said the tribe has been thinking about entering the industry, but did not comment on any specific plans.
“The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is always exploring economic development opportunities, and has been carefully considering how it might enter the cannabis industry since Minnesota’s new recreational marijuana law went into effect on Aug. 1, 2023. Specific plans to sell cannabis have not been finalized," Hellman said in an emailed statement.
SMSC would be the latest Minnesota tribe to capitalize on the state's legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis. Both the Red Lake and White Earth nations opened dispensaries last year, and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is in the process of constructing a 50,000-square-foot cannabis cultivation facility near the tribe's casino in Onamia.
SMSC's potential dispensary would also be the closest one operating to the Twin Cities at 2571 Credit Union Dr. in Prior Lake. Right now, that title is held by the Prairie Island Indian Community, which is opening its own dispensary later this month near Treasure Island Resort & Casino.
Outside of reservations, the Office of Cannabis Management is still setting up the state's infrastructure for its full recreational market.