ST. PAUL, Minn. (KTTC) – On Wednesday, the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced it has issued the first cannabis business in the state of Minnesota. OCM said the first licensee is Herb Quest, LLC, which is a microbusiness in Brook Park in Pine County.

According to OCM, the first primary business activity for Herb Quest, LLC, will be the outdoor cultivation of cannabis plants.

“Issuing the first business license is a major milestone for the office,” OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel said. “With our first licensed cultivator now able to begin growing plants, and more than 600 businesses within the final steps of completing their applications and securing approvals from local governments, we are now seeing the first pieces of Minnesota’s adult-use market fall into place.”

Along with the new licensee, OCM also announced new opportunities for business owners, who may be interested in becoming a part of Minnesota’s emerging adult-use cannabis market. OCM said these opportunities include a new round for prospective applicants to have their social equity status verified, a new licensing window for cannabis testing facilities, and finally, the first licensing opportunity for cannabis event organizers.

Applicants who want to have their social equity status verified will have a chance to do so between Jul. 7 at 12:01 a.m. to Jul. 21 at 11:59 p.m. OCM said while verifying social equity is not required for obtaining a cannabis license, it is still a necessary step for those who wish to apply for a cannabis business license with a social equity classification.

Those who have already had their social equity status verified do not need to seek verification again. More information on the social equity verification process is available here.

Aug. 1 of this year is when OCM will be opening a new and ongoing application window for cannabis testing facilities.

“ISO accreditation is a lengthy process, so we wanted to provide a shorter runway for labs who wish to enter Minnesota’s cannabis market in such an essential way while also helping other cannabis business owners get up and running with safe, tested products,” OCM Chief Regulatory Officer Max Zappia said. “Having testing facilities with capacity is essential to our mission to establish an equitable cannabis industry that prioritizes public health and safety, consumer confidence, and market integrity.”

Aug. 1 is also when OCM will begin accepting applications for cannabis event organizer licenses. According to OCM, this license authorizes the holder to plan and host temporary cannabis-related events in Minnesota.

OCM said this license is temporary and must be obtained separately for each event, and all cannabis event activities must have local approval.

Event organizers are required to obtain this approval before submitting an application to the OCM and provide proof of local approval as part of the application.

More information on submitting an application for a cannabis business license is available here.

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The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management marked a huge milestone on Wednesday, issuing the state’s first-ever cannabis business license.

Herb Quest LLC in Brook Park, a town in Pine County about 65 miles north of the Twin Cities, received its microbusiness license for cultivating cannabis plants outdoors.

“With our first licensed cultivator now able to begin growing plants, and more than 600 businesses within the final steps of completing their applications and securing approvals from local governments, we are now seeing the first pieces of Minnesota’s adult-use market fall into place,” OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel said in a statement.

As of Wednesday, 706 applicants across all license types had gained preliminary approval and were in the final stages of securing a license, according to the OCM’s online dashboard. Those last hurdles include securing a business location, meeting all local zoning and business regulations and passing a pre-licensure inspection.

Earlier this month, the OCM held its first lotteries for social equity applicants and general applicants for cultivator, manufacturer and mezzobusiness licenses. A general lottery for cannabis retailers is scheduled for July 22.

Microbusiness licenses like Herb Quest’s are not capped under state statute, but there was a limited window to apply for them. In all, the OCM received 1,854 microbusiness applications, and 124 were either withdrawn or denied.

Tribal businesses and municipal cannabis retailers are not subject to lotteries for licensing.

First Cannabis Microbusiness License awarded in Minnesota

ST. PAUL (KVRR/FOX9) – Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management’s first-ever lottery license in the books, the state has announced its first official business license to begin recreational cannabis cultivation.

It went to Herb Quest, LLC, a microbusiness located in Pine County with the primary focus on the outdoor cultivation of cannabis plants.

Earlier in June, the OCM’s license lottery provided 249 license lottery winners a path toward legitimate business.

Minnesota’s recreational cannabis industry has been marred with setbacks since becoming legal in August 2023.

The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced that it has issued the first cannabis business license in the state. Herb Quest, LLC, in Pine County is the first licensee.

“Issuing the first business license is a major milestone for the office,” said OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel. “With our first licensed cultivator now able to begin growing plants, and more than 600 businesses within the final steps of completing their applications and securing approvals from local governments, we are now seeing the first pieces of Minnesota’s adult-use market fall into place.”

OCM has also announced new opportunities for potential business owners including a new round for prospective applicants to have their social equity status verified, a new licensing window for cannabis testing facilities, and the first licensing opportunity for cannabis event organizers. The new application widnor for the testing facilities and cannabis event organizer licenses will begin on August 1.

“ISO accreditation is a lengthy process, so we wanted to provide a shorter runway for labs who wish to enter Minnesota’s cannabis market in such an essential way while also helping other cannabis business owners get up and running with safe, tested products,” said Max Zappia, OCM’s chief regulatory officer. “Having testing facilities with capacity is essential to our mission to establish an equitable cannabis industry that prioritizes public health and safety, consumer confidence, and market integrity.”

As of June 18, 2025, the OCM has received more than 3,530 applications across all license types.

RELATED STORIES: Office of Cannabis Management announces approval of cannabis rules

Minnesota officials have issued the state’s first recreational marijuana business license following the enactment of legalization in 2023.

The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced on Wednesday that it has issued the license to Herb Quest, LLC, a cultivation microbusiness.

“Issuing the first business license is a major milestone for the office,” OCM Interim Director Eric Taubel said in a press release.

“With our first licensed cultivator now able to begin growing plants, and more than 600 businesses within the final steps of completing their applications and securing approvals from local governments, we are now seeing the first pieces of Minnesota’s adult-use market fall into place,” he said.

Additionally, OCM said it’s taking further steps to build up in the industry and create opportunities to entrepreneurs, including opening a new licensing window for cannabis testing facilities, accepting the first applications for marijuana event licenses and verifying more social equity status requests.

For cannabis testing facilities, licensing applications will open on August 1. To prevent delays, lawmakers enacted a policy change to the process that also allows such licenses to be issued as applicants are awaiting accreditation from the International Standards Organization (ISO).

“ISO accreditation is a lengthy process, so we wanted to provide a shorter runway for labs who wish to enter Minnesota’s cannabis market in such an essential way while also helping other cannabis business owners get up and running with safe, tested products,” Max Zappia, OCM’s chief regulatory officer, said. “Having testing facilities with capacity is essential to our mission to establish an equitable cannabis industry that prioritizes public health and safety, consumer confidence, and market integrity.”

Applications for cannabis event organizer licenses will also start being accepted on August 1.

“Pursuant to Minnesota law, cannabis events must be limited to ages 21 and older and may not include the sale or consumption of alcohol,” regulators said. “Cannabis events may feature the on-site sale and use of adult-use cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer products.”

Unlike other license types, the event organizer license is temporary and people will need to apply for new ones per event.

Meanwhile, shortly after Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to end the criminalization of bong water containing trace amount of drugs, Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) has signed the measure into law late last month.

The change addresses an existing policy that had allowed law enforcement to treat quantities of bong water greater than four ounces as equivalent to the pure, uncut version of whatever drug the device was used to consume.

Also in Minnesota, a Native American tribe last month opened the state’s first-ever legal recreational marijuana store outside of a reservation. The new shop, in Moorhead, will be followed next month by another location in St. Cloud that will also be operated by the White Earth Nation.

The launch of the new shop comes after Walz signed of a landmark agreement last month to allow the tribe to operate up to eight retail marijuana stores across the state.

Minnesota’s 2023 cannabis legalization law allows tribes within the state to open marijuana businesses before state licensing of businesses begins. Following the law’s enactment, a number of tribal governments, including White Earth Nation, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, made early moves to enter the market.

Separately, as the state’s adult-use cannabis market gets up and running, more than a dozen cities and counties are seeking to open their own government-run stores.

At least 13 cities and counties have applied for licenses to operate their own marijuana stores. The city of Anoka, for one, broke ground last month on a new $2.7 million facility, though the city’s liquor and cannabis operations manager says they’re still waiting on final approval from OCM.

Other municipalities seeking licenses to run their own dispensaries include St. Joseph and Osseo, which are reportedly waiting to secure licenses before breaking ground on the facilities.

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By law, Minnesota allows local governments to limit the number of retailers in their jurisdictions, though it requires leaders to allow at least one marijuana store for every 12,500 residents.

Separately in Minnesota, a state appeals court is set to decide whether state officials have the authority to prosecute tribal members for cannabis crimes committed on tribal land. The case centers on a White Earth citizen who allegedly sold cannabis from his tobacco store on reservation land in Mahnomen.

In April, meanwhile, state officials moved to delay a separate drug reform—the opening of safe drug consumption sites, meant to allow people to use drugs in a safer, supervised setting.

“More work needs to be done on a state and federal level before these services can be implemented in a way that is safe for participants and Harm Reduction programs,” a representative for the Department of Human Services (DHS) Behavioral Health Administration said at the time.

In March, lawmakers also filed legislation that would create a system to allow legal access to psilocybin for medical purposes. That came just days after the introduction of a separate bill that would legalize personal psilocybin use and possession among adults.

Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.