Episode 12 - CannaConnections in Minnesota (with Steve Eigenmann)

Marcus and Tanner are back covering some big news in the Minnesota Cannabis industry (and here at the Minnesota Cannabis College)! Rulemaking, county regulations, and recipes for cannabis brownies?? All that and more on this episode of Northern Lights!

We try out a few Minnesota-made cannabis products, including Kite Soda’s new Kite Cider and Minny Grown’s seasonal twist on their classic gummy: caramel apple flavor! Hear what the hosts think of this cannabis twist to a few fall classics. 

Hear from Steve Eigenmann of Canna Connect MN and Clean Green Media on what he’s learned from his years in the Minnesota cannabis industry and what he sees coming up. Hear about the man behind some of the most significant legal cannabis events in Minnesota.

Finally, we’ve got a new book to announce and a party to boot! Join us on December 3rd to celebrate with a book release and supporter celebration party! Listen to hear what you need to know to RSVP and secure your copy today!

Today's episode of Northern Lights is presented by North Star Law Group, your trusted partner in Minnesota's burgeoning legal cannabis industry. Learn more at northstarlaw.com

Links from the Show:

• Minnesota Cannabis College on YouTube - Link to Page
• OCM Cannabis Rulemaking Survey - Link to Site
• Dec 3rd Concentrating on Concentrates - Class Registration Link
• Canna Connect MN - Link to Site
• Dec 3rd Book Release & MNCC Supporter Party! - Free RSVP Link
• Processing Cannabis at Home in Minnesota: A Beginner’s Guide - Pre-Order Link

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Transcript

 Today's episode of Northern Lights is presented by Northstar Law Group, your trusted partner in Minnesota's burgeoning legal cannabis industry. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand, attorney Jen Risa and her team will help you understand the latest developments, scope out risks, and find a compliant path forward in this rapidly changing field.

Visit NorthstarLaw. com and let Northstar Law Group guide you through the legal landscape with confidence.

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome everyone to another episode of Northern Lights. I'm your host, Tanner, joined today by my co host, the wonderful, the amazing. Mr. Marcus Harcus. Welcome, Marcus. Hello, hello. Super happy to have you back here. Super happy to have all of our listeners back here talking through some of the exciting news going on in the Minnesota Cannabis industry.

We've got a big episode today. We've got a bunch of news. We've been away for a couple weeks, so we're catching up on some stories that have happened since we last spoke. We've got a great interview coming up with Steve Eigenmann of CannaConnectMN. He's going to be talking through some of the amazing things that we've seen in the industry and some of the cool things that he's done in this industry.

Then finally at the end, we've got some cool news talking about, uh, a new book that we're coming out with, and then a book release party that we're throwing you all are invited to. So listen to the end for those details. But first, should we start with a little bit of news? Let's go. So we're actually starting with news, not from the cannabis industry generally, but some pretty exciting news here for Northern Lights podcast.

So we've been coming to you now for a couple months. It's been really exciting being able to have so many listeners call in so many listeners write in so many listeners just share how they've. Connected and enjoyed listening to cannabis news. Well, we are partnering with the amazing Dabbler Depot to bring this podcast to your video screens.

Um, no longer do you just have to listen, but also you'll be able to, to watch us. We're going to now be Northern Lights, the video podcast. Listeners and viewers listeners and viewers. How about that? We're so excited to be able to come to you. We've done a lot of cool education through audio, but now we'll be able to show off a bunch as well.

As we're talking about plants, we'll really be able to have them in hand showing them off. We'll be able to show you what the products look like. You don't just have to, you know, listen to us open the can, but you'll be able to see us open the can. See what the beverage looks like yourself. Um, and give it a try.

Audio and video. You get to see our authentic facial reactions to the tasty or terrible. We're so excited for it. We just think it's going to be so awesome being able to connect with you all. So for right now, if you go to our YouTube page, give that a subscribe, that'll let you know, when that first episode comes out, we also are going to have a video feed coming live soon here.

So if you follow through like Apple podcast or Spotify, you'll be able to keep doing that as well. Um, but otherwise this audio feed, the one that you're listening to this in right now is going to stay up as well. So even if you're someone who's thinking, eh, I, you know, I listen when I drive into work, I can't.

Watch that on a video. No worries. You can still keep listening, but for those wanting to upgrade themselves to viewers, you will now have that opportunity. Audio and video. Absolutely. So shout out to Dabbler Depot. We're super excited to be able to partner with them. Bring us to your video screens. Um, so check us in the future.

Follow us on YouTube. We'll put that link in the show notes for today. Dabbler Depot, here we come. Yeah, we're really looking forward to it. Let's get to some news, not from here at the Minnesota Cannabis College, but the larger Minnesota cannabis industry. Um, we've got, first starting out today, a pretty interesting update coming out of a story that we covered back right in the days after legalization really began here in Minnesota.

Um, there was a tobacco shop up on the White Earth Reservation that was raided by county sheriffs, raided by tribal police. They seized cannabis, seven pounds of it. They seized 3, 000 in cash. They seized cell phones and surveillance systems. And we've all sort of been waiting for that. That actual charge to come through, but as of today, there's been no actual charges filed in that they seized a lot of product, but there's nothing been prosecuted up to this date.

And there's been some interesting news out of that, that perhaps one of the reasons might be that the state actually might not have the authority to prosecute. Him or other tribal members for cannabis crimes that are committed on the reservation. I guess they're messing around and finding out that it's legal to share now.

And there's some different rules when it comes to the reservation. Yeah, it's a really interesting story that I think goes to show the importance of tribal sovereignty and some of the inner play that that has with cannabis now that it's not totally illegal, quasi legal in certain ways. Um, Thompson, the individual who, who owns a tobacco shop, Todd Thompson, he's a member of the White Earth Reservation, or excuse me, the White Earth Nation.

Um, he did not have a permit to sell cannabis. He did not have permission for the tribal council, which would seem to imply. You know, this guy is in violation of the laws, but when we sort of dig into the technicalities of it, when we look at what the actual law is, you know, Minnesota has the power to prosecute criminal crimes, but not civil crimes.

And if he was selling cannabis, something that is allowed in Minnesota, but just regulated, well then perhaps the state might not have the authority. To criminally prosecute prosecute in this case, it's such an interesting story. I think when the arrest 1st happened a couple of months ago, we all thought, well, this is pretty cut and dry.

You can't do that. And I think. You know, we definitely at the college are not advocating people go out and do this, but this is Todd Thompson saying we are pushing for our rights. In fact, he had a quote saying, we're sick of being held down from every economic opportunity we're held back from. This is their opportunity to really seize that.

That's powerful. Yeah. I support him. Yeah. You know, it said also that the tribal council had voted to approve this a few days earlier. So it's not like he got. Popped before that 100 percent and they have a system in place where individuals will be able Eventually to get licenses to sell Through that that reservation program, but they just haven't been created yet, which sounds to me like a regulation And less of like a total prohibition, because there is cannabis being sold there.

In fact, Todd Thompson was the first person to sell cannabis. He did beat the tribe themselves by a couple days. Hey, he's efficient. Yeah, he also said that his prices were significantly cheaper and he wasn't imposing that 10 percent tax. Um, I think we have a lot to learn from this story, but even more to just sort of watch and see what happens.

I mean, I kind of, I mean, I'm sure he probably cannot talk to us if he has a lawyer, but that would be a, that'd be a good interview. Well, we're definitely going to follow this case. Todd, if you're listening, give us a call. Um, but I think it's really an interesting look at how native sovereignty, Minnesota law and cannabis all comes together to perhaps show that it is legal ish.

Yeah. This is a good precedent. We're going to learn a lot from this case. I hope that, uh, Mr. Thompson prevails. Absolutely. And so there haven't been charges filed as of yet. So it's not as if this is like, A case that's actively working its way through the court, but we could see Thompson sue to get the product that was seized from him back.

We could see additional steps taken. So definitely a story to keep watching. We'll keep talking about it on here, but this is one of those stories that has evolved in ways that I think a couple months ago we would not have expected. But that is really illuminating on what our laws here are in Minnesota.

So definitely keep watching that. Keep listening to our podcast. We'll, we'll talk more about it in the future. So moving on slightly talking here about the university of Minnesota, um, back in house file 100, there were a number of appropriations made giving money to different. Organizations, the different government bodies, the different grant programs, all of this.

But one of them that was set up was giving funds to the University of Minnesota to open their Cannabis Research Center. And just this past week, that, that happened. We now have a Cannabis Research Center at the University of Minnesota studying the public health effects of cannabis legalization. And hoping to inform policy makers in the future related to what to do to cannabis.

So, I think this is an interesting story because they're not necessarily going to sit down and say, you know, what happens to one person when they smoke cannabis? Instead they're saying, what's happening to public health in Minnesota generally now that cannabis is legal? A question that I think has been understudied.

I mean, I think Marcus, you and I both agree it's a positive effect, cannabis legalization. Oh, yeah, definitely. But there were a lot of questions raised, especially among the prohibitionists about the threat to public health, the threat to public safety with legalization. You know, as if, you know, there wasn't already a legacy market here, but this is good information to know.

I mean, just in all honesty, we want to know if, you know, what are the benefits? What are the harms, if there are any? You know, and how, and if there are problems, how we can solve them and we need data, we need good public health research. So I mean, I support this. Absolutely. And I personally, my personal opinion, not the college, but my personally think that cannabis is much better for public health than alcohol is.

Yeah. But I think similar to alcohol, if we look at how our policies that we implement in the government. impact the community, that's never a bad thing. Even just to help make informed decisions in the future. I think looking at the U of M, studying what will cannabis look like in Minnesota, how does it affect other states, how does it affect different groups of people, I really think it's some good research that's going to be done.

I mean, honestly, the research is going to be in favor of the cannabis culture, the cannabis market, as we saw even in Colorado, which was the first adult youth state. In 2014, they implemented it, January 1st, but they proved that there were no increases in these stone driving car accidents like the prohibitionists were wanting.

There was a decrease in juvenile use with legalization. There was like a 25 percent decrease in the use of opioid abuse in Colorado as a result of legalization. I mean, Everybody knows, who's honest, that this is a healing plant. I mean, all of the testimonies you heard over the years are about how it benefits people's health.

How it helps people overcome the addiction to alcohol, or meth, or heroin, or other types of opiates, benzenes. You know, we know that this research is good because It's going to help destigmatize it even further. It's going to normalize it. It's going to make people who have these persisting, you know, reefer madness notions and fears and stigmas that they wield against their, their loved ones who, who depend on cannabis in a violent way.

So this is going to break down barriers of ignorance that may help people who could use cannabis to access it because there, it's no longer going to be a boogeyman. Absolutely. You know, debunk the whole gateway drug non pseudo science. And I think what's exciting about this is the person who's leading it isn't necessarily like from the cannabis community.

Like it's a professor of public health at the U of M. They research substance use control policies generally. So I think having someone with the credibility of the U of M, with the research and financial backing that that organization has, being able to really lead the scientific community in cannabis research is going to be a huge thing.

I mean, it will be cool to have studies that are cited around the country, perhaps even around the world saying what we did in Minnesota, here are the things that really worked well. Yeah. I mean, we've always wanted to do this better than every other state and there's no shame in wanting to be the best.

100 percent we won't shame the other states too much. We'll just tell them to do better. Just do that part. We're just going to encourage them to do better. Absolutely. So shout out to the U of M. We're really excited to see what sort of research comes out of here. Obviously, scientific research is not something that happens overnight.

So it's not like we're going to see their, their results tomorrow, but I think, especially as legalization moves forward, we're going to hear a lot from the U of M on sort of what we should be doing. It's exciting to have an organization that has established in Minnesota, the U of M, really helping to lead the forefront of cannabis research in the whole country.

I just need to say one more thing. With this, um, you know, public health research, I hope that they will act as the Minnesota Department of Health did in the past, when they, just as an example, declared structural racism as a public health threat. So, like There's still going to be people criminalized because of the still, you know, prohibition light policies with the legalization.

And as we found in Colorado, There was there was no increase in juvenile use but there was an increase in young people being criminalized You know those people who are under 21 years old. Mm hmm. So Hopefully that they can consider the the the harms of prohibition light as a public health threat.

Absolutely

No, and definitely if Locked up is bad for your health. Yeah No 100 percent and I think if professor to me is listening if anyone from the public health department Side of research is listening. Definitely that's such an important thing to consider is, you know, it's not like we're looking at this in a vacuum of, hey, what does this effect have, but it's actually looking at what is the history of the structural racism of cannabis prohibition in Minnesota.

And how it will persist with the young people, the under 21. Yeah, 100%. No, Marcus, thanks for throwing that in. I think that's such an important perspective and really something that I hope that you keep in mind as they move forward. Look at the full picture.

Alright, well, moving on, we've got a whole news packed episode here. The next thing that we're talking about is some pretty big news out of the Office of Cannabis Management. So, we have a new direct, oh, no, no, no, wait, no, I'm reading this. Oops! Yeah, oops, sorry. No, no, no. What's happening here is that cannabis rulemaking has, at least in the early stages, sort of begun here in Minnesota.

Um, so the Office of Cannabis Management sent out a survey. They posted it on their website. They sent it to a bunch of business owners, business operators, saying, we would like your input on what rules should look like around cannabis cultivation. cannabis processing and cannabis manufacturing in the upcoming adult youth industry.

It's a pretty short survey, but at least a good first step. It shows that they're at least seeking that community input. It was a good faith effort, as they like to say, at the Department of Transportation. And I think it is a good faith effort of, we're starting this process by getting input from the community.

Yeah. And I really hope that they look at it and sort of help take it under advisory. But, you know, something that we talked about offline, not, I won't address it specifically, but like, yes, sending the survey is great, but I think they also talked about doing events because not every, that's not always accessible for people, even though people have access to the Internet.

Like, that form and those questions, the way I was reading them, I'm like, most people are not going to be able to answer these questions in a way that's, like, uh, going to yield a lot of answers, responses. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So we're going to be releasing just like a standalone extra bit. It's about 25 minutes long.

It talks through the entire survey. Some of the questions on there, the things that they're looking for now, and also what that form sort of hints that they'll be looking for in the future. But either way, we encourage people to go to cannabis. mn. gov, click on the rulemaking button, and then click on the link to see that form.

Especially if you have experience in the industry in other states, especially if you're an operator hoping to become part of our industry. They really are looking for input, um, you know, hopefully they, hopefully they take it. I mean, this is, this is a huge opportunity. I mean, well, I don't know how huge the opportunity is, but it's really imperative that the cannabis industry stakeholders.

Which largely includes consumers that we weigh in and inform these people, because we don't know who's going to be on the inside yet leading the rulemaking process from inside the OCM, you know, like the governor wanted to hire, uh, now he wants to hire a seasoned bureaucrat, but. You know, knowing how bureaucracies run is only so helpful when it comes to coming up with the rules for the cannabis market because I mean cannabis is not like tomatoes and the cannabis consumers.

We're going to need certain types of products so we don't want the OCM coming in here banning things that they shouldn't or restricting things that they shouldn't or setting this up so that all the, you know, making it so overly restrictive and punitive that you really. Sabotaging any hopes for the micro business level entrepreneur to even succeed.

Like the rulemaking process is so critical that it's going to either make or break our market. There's only, there's the laws are different from the rules of the regulator. So we need to attempt to establish smart rules that that yes, that does, that do protect consumers that do punish bad actors, you know, who would create bad products and threaten public safety, you know, public health, but we want them to set this up in an equitable way.

We want them to create rules that favor. You know, a craft market, not big marijuana. So the rulemaking process is, I mean, I can't overstate how important it is. It's almost more important than just changing the laws. I mean, I really think it is. 100 percent agree. So this first round of the survey does need to be turned in by November 30th.

That's when they're closing this particular one. It does look like they're going to have many forms in the future for people to fill out. Looking at other categories, but if you know, if you have experience in cultivation, processing or manufacturing, definitely submit some thoughts on, uh, what should be happening because Marcus, I agree with you, we need rules that are benefiting business owners and not that are hurting, you know, I, Aaron Morrison, a buddy of mine works for grannies, he's been on the podcast in the past, gave such a great example to me of working in Oregon, working in a medical business and having that business saying we want to become adult youth.

And then looking at the regulations of saying, how much would it actually cost for us to buy the required monitoring system of cameras in every single room, looking at every inch of where plant matter is of 24 seven, being able to stream in, being allowed in the government to be able to look in and watch.

And it just, it wasn't financially doable for them. And we really need rules that are not going to be blocking people out of the industry. We need rules that are going to protect consumers, yes, but also allow businesses to be able to operate and thrive. So, yeah, I think that's fine. I have to say this now because almost everybody is feeling the pinch of the inflation, which is only going to continue to rise.

You know, I think our economy is really in trouble long term. But so just as things are expensive for individuals as us as consumers, as you know, if you want to call yourself a consumer. Yeah, it's also hard for businesses. So if the government, if the OCM is like requiring operational things, operational requirements that are extremely expensive, it's not going to allow cannabis businesses to survive because you got a profit.

I mean, it's already stacked against us with it being federally prohibited and you know, it. Yeah, so it's like we need the state to be on our side and in the early states We did see examples of the state's having laws and rules that crippled the cannabis industry I mean look at the way Washington State did it they did they did it six months after, Colorado Washington State has done a terrible disservice to the cannabis industry and the way they regulated it.

100%. I mean, even Colorado, and I'll, and I'll stop. Nope. But I know that Colorado, the, the MED they call it, the Marijuana Enforcement Division, I mean those people were I'm sure they're doing better now, but for the first several years, they were really just trying to shut down the small businesses and only set it up for big business.

Like that's terrible. That's not what the consumers want. We have a huge opportunity here. I just hope that they don't mess it up. You know, we've got football. We just got to. Get it down to the end zone. I think that's what they call it. Yeah. I mean, the way that Minnesota has the best model is if the state cooperates in allowing it to thrive.

That doesn't mean we are allowing reckless, dangerous behavior. We don't want that at all, but you got to let the small and the mid sized businesses really compete. So if you're listening and you agree with us, or even if you don't agree with us, that's totally fine too. Cannabis. mn. gov. Uh, click on that rulemaking button, get that form filled out.

No later than November 30th. I know that's coming up quick here, so. Definitely get that turned in. We want people to have their voices heard. We want an industry that really helps support businesses, supports consumers and allows cannabis to be as plentiful as we want it to be here in Minnesota. That part, don't limit it.

Don't limit us. Well, so. Before we try some products that I'm actually really excited to try today, two that I've not personally tried at all before today, um, we've got another, another county to add on to our shame list. Goddammit. I know, we've talked about Renville County in the past, we've talked about Wright County, we've talked about St. Paul, Duluth, we've talked about these jurisdictions that say, hey, I know cannabis is legal, but man, what if it wasn't? Wouldn't that be cool? And, um, have really fought forward to try to prevent people from consuming cannabis publicly. God, we need to put pictures of these people on, on the website. Yeah, for reals.

And I think what's particularly The commissioners. Yeah, what's particularly difficult about this one is I get You know, cannabis is legalized, the next council meeting you're angry, you're trying to respond, you're saying, we're doing this now, but this is months later. They've had a lot of time to consider it, and what they've done is they've banned cannabis consumption on any indoor area used by the general public or serving as a place of work, any publicly owned property or outdoor area of public recreation.

Such as recreation centers, public parks, hospitals, offices, taxis, limousines, educational institutions. Basically, if someone goes there to do a job, you can't consume cannabis there. So you're telling me if I'm admitted into a hospital as a patient, I can't go outside and smoke a joint where they're smoking cigarettes?

Not as long as you're on that property, and if you step off that property, you're on city property, so you also can't do it there. We're not really free. Yeah. This is, I think, a step, I don't think, I know that this is a step in the wrong direction. We need an infographic map that shows the brown counties of Minnesota.

Yeah. The places where you are able to exercise your rights and the places that, unfortunately, like now in Olmstead County, that you can't. Um, so, this includes a violation that's a petty misdemeanor, so you're paying a fine of up to 300, or you're being ordered to do community service just for consuming cannabis outdoors in a legal state.

This must be raid county. Yeah. So, the ban doesn't include edible products, so if you wanted to go to the park and eat edibles, I mean, I guess you can still do that. Um, but in this entire county, unless the city or a township has adopted their own policies, This is now in effect. So if you're in Olmstead County right now, if you're consuming cannabis outdoors, I guess stop.

I say divest your businesses, sell your homes and move. Yeah, honestly, it's crazy. I mean, our legislators made some great steps forward in making sure that we didn't have these zones that totally banned cannabis from being able to be sold. But we're seeing these places pop up where if you don't own a home, You're not really going to be able to consume much cannabis, even though it's legal.

So, um, Olmstead County, unfortunately. On the shame list. Shame on you. Shame, shame, shame. Hopefully we've got more that are going on the cool list soon. But as of right now, too many. The green counties and the brown counties. For real. Watch, watch this GIS ing. We'll, uh, we'll keep you updated on any news that goes on in that.

If you are in a community where you're debating or exploring cannabis policies, let us know. Um, we try to stay up to date, but Oh, man, there's been so many places recently that have been making some pretty big steps backwards. So, uh, definitely keep us updated and we'll keep you updated. All right. Let's do something positive before we take a break.

Um, we've got some new products to try. All right, let's go. Marcus, the taste of fall is, is alive. It is fall outside. If people are listeners or celebrators of Thanksgiving, that holiday is just around the corner, I guess for listeners of this. just in the past. Um, but you know, it's a fun time and we wanted to bring together some flavors of the season to help us to celebrate today.

So we've got two different products. Um, we've got some mini grown gummies, a limited edition caramel apple flavor. We also have kite soda has created a seasonal kite cider. So it's an apple cider. Um, 10 milligrams in that can. The gummies are five milligrams each. We're gonna be, we're gonna be trying these out.

Marcus, is there one that you want to try first? I think I'd like to try the soda. Soda first. You got it. So, um, Kite Soda, uh, created this Kite Cider. Um, as I said, it's 10 milligrams in that 12 ounce can. That's a good amount. That's way better than 5 in a can. I 100 percent agree. So these are apples that are unfiltered and unsweetened coming from Michigan with just that delicious THC added to it.

I like it. They say it's a perfect drink to warm your soul on a chilly day. Enjoy the flavors of fall. So, cheers. Could you say that again? Oh, yeah. A perfect drink to warm your soul on a chilly day. Oh, yeah. Enjoy the flavors of fall. So, are we supposed to heat it up? Um, no. It just keeps you warm on the insides.

Oh, okay. Because I'm like, warm soda sounds terrible. That's good. I like that. I do like it, too. It has that, like, nice tart apple flavor to it. It definitely is a cider. You can taste that. It's like carbonated, carbonated. Yeah, absolutely. It's got a beautiful color to it. We're not yet a video podcast coming soon, but, um, we'll describe it.

It looks like apple juice, carbonated apple juice. Um, it looks pretty, pretty tasty and it tastes the way that it looks. I mean, I'm expecting an apple juice flavor. I'm getting an apple juice flavor. I like it. I mean, didn't we try, uh, So, you know, grannies had a like a granny. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Okay. I see the apple sodas are emerging as some of the best.

I know it's it's the it's what's going on. That granny's one is actually totally gone now. You can't get that one anymore. Um but this cider, you can get um I think throughout the Twin Cities. So, they make their own. They do. Yeah. Minnesota grown gluten free lab tested. We like this. I do. I think the name Kite Cider is kind of cute too.

One monosyllable. For when you want to go fly a kite. Hang out on a beautiful fall day. Kite Cider. So, yeah, I'd recommend people check this one out. I like this one. It's really good. Um, it definitely has that delicious, appley cider taste. And, um, also has some THC in it. I drank the whole thing. So, thumbs up.

There we go. Well, let's move on to our next one here. So this is from Mini Grown. Um, some long time people in the industry. They've been around for quite a while. They released some gummies that have really, really taken off over the last couple of months. This is their latest flavor, their caramel apple infused gummies.

So five milligrams, each 10 pieces in the bag. We'll go ahead and bust this open.

Feel free to grab a square out of there. Thank you. I've got a, uh, a green color, a green apple color to them. Definitely that caramelly apple smell. Alright, that's really good. If you've had one of those caramel apple suckers before, like the ones that's the green apple covered in the caramel, you're getting such a similar flavor from this one.

You've got that wonderful car caramel notes, but really that green apple flavor is cutting through. And it's delicious. I don't know if I've just been programmed by the message on their package that says the most thrilling gummy flavor to ever hit your senses, but it was pretty good. Yeah. We like the mini grown gummies.

I've had other flavors of theirs before. They came out with like a special 4th of July one. Um, some people might have seen their like Vikings Packer gummy packs you could buy a couple, a couple months back. But, um, this one, their, their fall special is, is really good. I like this one. So they're five milligrams per serving.

Yeah, so five milligrams of gummy. Um. I'll try one more. There you go. Yeah, they're definitely larger gummies, I would say, size wise. So I, I find that I don't really sit down and eat an entire bag of these in one sitting. Um, I think that would just be a bit too much. Um, but in terms of sitting down, eating 5, 10 milligrams right before bed, right before doing some work, right before seeing a movie, right?

These are a great go to and you can find them everywhere. Did you know you can find many grown products at the cub liquor store? Hey, they know what they're doing. Not in every municipality. Of course, some have those. Fun. Uh, yeah. Don't place, don't go to OB State County. Yeah. For real. But yeah, these are around, you can get them, you can try them.

And I definitely encourage people to these. They're really good. Yeah. I don't even, I mean, I'm not really a edible person in all honesty, but, 'cause they can be too much. But I don't really like gummies. It is fun to chew these. Mm-Hmm. , like, I like the texture. You know, there are a lot of. Fun to taste gummies But this one is probably better than most.

There you go. Well, that's an endorsement. I I'll take that. That's good from a non edible lover Yeah, I'm not a hater though So mini grown gummies caramelized apples with the one we tried today kite cider. There's 10 milligram So does go and go and check those out Man, I was going to be high this afternoon.

I know. Should we, we're gonna, we're gonna go take a break. When we come on back, you're going to be hearing an interview that we did with Steve Eigenmann of CannaConnectMN. We're going to be talking about some of the amazing things that he's done over the past couple of months that their organization has done.

It's pretty, some cool stuff. And then after that, we're going to be sharing some pretty cool news and inviting you. To a party. So stay tuned. We'll be back in just a minute.

Hey Tanner, I had a great time in Duluth. Did you know Minnesota has over 90, 000 miles of combined rivers? Look, Steve, look. I loved that event too. It was fun. But I don't have time for trivia right now. I'm trying to concentrate. What are you, what are you concentrating on? Well, Steve, I'm concentrating on how to make these cannabis concentrates.

Okay. Oh, yeah, what are, okay, what are concentrates? Well, it's basically just the products that are taken from that cannabis plant. Maybe they've been processed in some way just to keep those most desirable parts, the cannabinoids, the terpenes, getting rid of all that plant matter. You know, they can be smoked, they can be vaped, or you can make them into edibles.

And they're legal to make at home now, so we're trying to put together a book to walk people through it. Uh huh, wow. I didn't know that. Honestly, that's super cool. Do you know anyone who can teach me more about how to make those? Well, actually, yeah, I do. And it's, it's funny because I'm hosting a class soon with Minnesota Solventless, with Cornell Urban Agriculture, and even Minnesota Grown CBD on December 3rd.

So it's going to be a Sunday afternoon, it should be a fun time. In fact, Stephen, you're hosting that class with me. You're, you're going to be introducing us. Yeah, I, uh, that's right. Uh, I guess I need some help concentrating. Well, that's why we're hosting the class. Get your tickets today, mncannabiscollege.org/rosin. Okay, so that's mncannabiscollege.org, but you just have to add slash rosin? Clearly, you got to concentrate. mncannabiscollege.org/rosin. We hope to see you there.

And we're back. Welcome, everyone. We're sitting here today with someone that I'm super excited to talk to, someone that I've actually known in the industry for quite a while, Mr. Steve Eigenmann of CannaConnect. This is someone who really is the OG of throwing cannabis events here in Minnesota and we're going to jump in today.

So welcome. Happy to have you here. Thanks Tanner. I'm excited to be here. Appreciate you having me on alongside Marcus Harcus and the Minnesota Cannabis College. Yeah, absolutely. We've been working together for quite a while in this industry. We're going to talk about that in just a minute, but I'm really excited to be able to have you on sort of talk about what we've done, but also really explore some of the next exciting steps of our industry here.

So, um, a question that I have for you, um, so you've hosted a ton of cannabis events here in Minnesota. In fact, I was looking over, uh, your website over the last couple of days, and I'm pretty certain you've hosted more cannabis events here in Minnesota than, like, anyone else by a long shot. Um, you're from Lunch and Learns, Home Grow classes, the Canna Connect Expos themselves.

I think a lot of people have been to your events, but they might not know the man behind Canna Connect himself. So, tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the Minnesota cannabis industry. Yeah, absolutely. We've been making up a lot of events. Like, a lot of these have been the first time, and that's, that's really cool.

Um, OG in the sense of maybe the CBD and hemp industry. Uh, but certainly not on the legacy side and, and the events that have gone on for years and years and decades. So, just to make that connotation, not lose, you know, half our audience right off the bat. No, I think that's a good, good note. Yeah, absolutely.

The legal industry side here. I, I have a passion for working in new industries. Uh, I have a passion for connecting people. Being that cannabis is a new industry in Minnesota, I've found that my greatest gift is connecting people, really understanding people, and helping them make their own moves. You know, the biggest thing about Canada Connect is meeting new people and really understanding who the types of people are that are entering the cannabis space.

I love that. It's really cool. Yeah, it's been awesome seeing so many people come into our industry over the past couple of months, but past couple of years really, and seeing what we have today and what we're hopefully going to have very soon in the future, really sort of grow and form. Um, I was thinking back to some of the earliest events that we did together.

And the one that stands out like biggest in my mind is that 2019 Walker Hemp Festival. You know, we drove up north pretty far. We sort of got together in a rural part of Minnesota and, and celebrated cannabis. There was a lot of CBD products. There was something relatively new at the time called Delta 8.

Yeah. And not to confuse people, that was 2021. So, 2021 was the Walker Hemp Fest. No, it wasn't, Stephen. Are you serious? Oh my gosh, that feels like it was so long ago. That was really just like A little over two years ago. Insane. Because I had a hemp clothing company at the time and I didn't have a hemp brand, clothing brand in 2019.

Thank you so much for correcting that. Yeah, no, absolutely. Wow, 2021. Okay, so really going back only two years then. We've been poking around, doing some really exciting stuff here. Yeah. Um. And I'm, I can't wait to dig more into that, like the journey of the last four years. But I think I first heard about Marcus Harcus and, and yourself.

Mm hmm. the Minnesota Cannabis College through Zach Robbins in 2019, 2020. Totally. Like, he and I were recording a podcast the day Kobe Bryant passed away. Okay. And I rem because, yeah, you sort of rem like, that was a moment. Yeah, for sure. I think we can all sort of think back to like, where we were when we R.I. P. and, and so like I remember hearing about the Minnesota Cannabis College, but I would imagine that you and I crossed paths in 2019, either through the Minnesota Hemp Association or at some of these events like AURI was something that I latched onto early on. And they put some, they put out a guide to industrial hemp in like late 2019, uh, early 2020.

I mean, once you get into early 2020, it gets fuzzy. Yeah, wow. So that's really bringing me back to some of like the early like nebulus of some of the people that were just sort of. first few days that like the legacy CBD cup was probably like just happening around that time. Yeah. Did you guys have a presence at the warehouse winery legacy CBD cup?

We did not know. So, um, I bought one of the judges packs that year, went home with that bag filled with a bunch of products, went and sort of walked around the event. But, um, no, we really at the college were sort of. Just getting started and really looking to expand at that time. Yeah, I definitely remember that though.

And it's, um, it's not all that different than the Legacy Cup 2023. It's just so much different. Yeah, it's expanded. It's funny to think of brands like, you know, love is an ingredient, grounded gardens, like cultivated, uh, stigma, like really some of these people that have been around in the industry for Yeah, Crested River, I definitely remember eating Bridget's, uh, Bon Bons for the first time at the Legacy Cup 2019.

Um, but yeah, Stigma's a good one, and Stigma's also one where it's like, hey, shout out to those guys, like. They got quiet during the pandemic, but have come back super strong. I mean, they took three awards at the legacy cup, the legacy cup for, uh, I mean, incredible and, um, it just shows there are some folks that have stuck with it for the last five years.

And there's some folks that we don't see anymore. Um, so this, this industry is constantly evolving, um, how I sort of. Got into CBD. I first heard about it in 2018. I was living in Los Angeles. I was a part of a startup with a raw juice technology company called juice bot. And towards the end of the year, I realized that there was nothing I could do to help the startup succeed.

And I needed to find a new path, like It was sort of, uh, rubber meets the road, and so I visited San Antonio, Texas, uh, Military City, USA, and they had a booming CBD retail market. It was the first time you could get cannabis, as we know it, legally, in San Antonio, and so these retail smoke shops were just, uh, opening, opening, opening.

It also, it was, at the time, the fastest growing zip code in the country, so you had immense urban sprawl, along with legal CBD through the 2018 farm bill. And so that, that market was really interesting. I flew back to Los Angeles with 50 CBD joints in my luggage. And then immediately later that day, I booked a, or I had a red eye flight to New York and I booked an Airbnb for four nights.

I stayed in Brooklyn and I attended a Cannabis Media Summit on December 7th, 2018. So I pulled the, I pulled the links and the links are still live, so if we want to include them in the show notes, like Sure. Cool. My first events that I went to, um, it was Cannabis Media Summit to spotlight journalism for an emerging industry that very much like pointed me in the direct the direction to get involved with Canna.MN, to work with Zack Robbins and Teke O'Reilly and, and contribute blog posts to that website that's now defunct.

But on the same trip, there was a symposium being hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance. Mm-Hmm. . And that was in Albany. It was in Albany, New York, and it was called Marijuana Justice Equity Reinvestment. Uh, I was able to sign up. I took a coach bus that morning for free from Manhattan to Albany with my friend Rodney.

And towards the end of the trip, um, you know, we went up there to hear from activists, local elected officials, hemp farmers, ancillary businesses, all interested about the possibility of cannabis legalization. But if you, if you know the New York market. Like, they thought they were going to legalize in 2018, going into 2019, they didn't end up legalizing until after the pandemic started, maybe 2021.

And it's been a slow sort of rollout of fighting illicit industries that have popped up and expanded, um, and sort of the legalization that is fighting for that foothold. Yeah. So to real quick, like there was a lot of growing optimism that New York was going to legalize. And so I got a taste of that and that helped me sort of understand.

A number of things, one social equity, what that felt like, what that sounded like, but also like, Oh, this state's about to legalize. This is what it feels like. And then we sort of saw that pre pandemic in Minnesota and then it got dragged. And so I think going out to those trips, like to retail stores and visiting with journalists and members of the media from that time, like it helped me.

Understand what I could do in Minnesota potentially. Very cool. Very, very cool. So thinking back, so you've been sort of bubbling around in that early industry, 2018, 2019. Take us to now here in Minnesota. So you were in New York going to these conferences, looking at San Antonio, seeing this developing industry.

Um, now bring us to the, the through line of, of the Minnesota campus. Yeah. So after I got back, which was right around five years ago, I started Googling like what existed here. Uh, on Eventbrite, uh, just on Google. And the only companies you could find. five years ago were Minnesota Hemp Farms, John Strohfus, and nothing but hemp, Steven Brown.

But I was still interested, right? I knew there was more, like, you know, I reached out to those people and was like, hey, I'm into startups, like I'm interested in this. Like, you know, didn't hear back, but it was early. But in the spring of 2019, I attended an AURI event. It was a reverse pitch competition. So all these like Land O' Lakes, Cargill, General Mills, Uh, the banks that finance the agricultural industry in Minnesota.

They had this like, we have all these problems, what are our solutions? And it was, it was like, no mention of hemp. And, and I went to the Cannabis Media Summit, no mention of hemp. And at the time, my hemp gears are just starting to turn. So I'm like, right off the bat five years ago, I see that hemp is being ignored.

Hemp is the, um, the thing that doesn't get you high. Nobody's really interested in it, like comparatively to cannabis, and then on the ag side, they're ignoring it. And so that's sort of what shaped my approach to the hemp industry, and if you think four years ago, we were telling legislature, legislators, hemp doesn't get you high, hemp doesn't get you high, hemp doesn't get you high.

So, um, I attended this event, I met folks like EPAC, Flexible Packaging, I got to talk to John Strohfus for the first time, I saw Charlie Levine there, and And I just, you know, I find that networking and gaining perspective from folks that are there to sell a product or service, but you also get to understand their perspective.

So I like these networking events, and I was going to them. I think the first Minnesota Hemp Association event I went to was May or June of 2018. And that's when you started to see more people. coming together, starting to sell CBD. Absolutely. Yeah, very cool. So then take us through a little bit. You've, you've obviously been here.

You saw sort of the Delta eight bubble come and go. You saw now legal THC edibles, hemp derived, of course, sort of come into Minnesota. We're sort of watching that early parts of what that adult youth market might look like here. What has it been like to sort of be here and and really see those changes happen?

Yeah So I think we cross paths like I said probably 2019 ish But I'd say the biggest change since then over the last four years is how hemp has been viewed Mm hmm hemp has always been the underdog. You could always differentiate hemp from marijuana by saying hemp doesn't get you high But a lot of what the industry was concerned about after the 2018 farm bill was how we can develop more uses from him Mm hmm.

And so that sort of Guided me to, you know, want to bring hemp more into the mainstream. I could have never predicted that hemp would be brought into the mainstream the way that it has. Although if you knew the farm bill and you really studied it, you could have been producing Delta 9 hemp derived products from the get go, from four years ago.

Yeah. Uh, and there were only a few, some in this building, that were willing to take that risk, or really willing to understand what possibilities were. And as we saw now, it's being extended another year. That's another year of runway for these folks that are, um, using hemp in a, in a, in a cannabis derived way.

Um, I still, you know, embody like I'm wearing natural hemp clothing right now. Like You know, I attempted to start a company that was focused on finding the highest quality hemp clothing material so we could bring hemp more into the mainstream. Um, you know, I even created bootleg sports hats so that people could pick up a hat, feel the quality of it, but still rep the Timberwolves.

Um, because it is so hard to get people to adopt. A hemp lifestyle like hemp is a natural alternative to our world filled with plastic, but you know at some point in 2019 the market for CBD biomass started to crash because CBD doesn't get you high and therefore people are not willing to pay a premium for it.

So really riding the downturn of the CBD market. As more people in the Minnesota industry were coming on board, made for an interesting scene. Absolutely. Uh, the plant touching folks had a better idea of what was going on, and the retail folks, in my opinion, were, you know, probably greedy with the margins.

And so things started to go sideways. When you had hemp farmers, like, losing out on 40 times what they thought their price per pound was going to be. Um, how can they go around? How can they flip that, sell it to a retailer and expect to make any, any margin or like sustainable profits? So, and this was all pre pandemic.

The pandemic helped separate the wheat from the shi from the chaff. As they say, after Governor Walz deemed CBD stores non essential, businesses had to find another way to reach their consumers. And Delta 8 resuscitated, resuscitated shops that were struggling to move CBD products, but it also brought a host of other issues.

Um, and not to go on and on, but you know, prior to Delta 8, you couldn't just walk into a CBD store and get high. But then all of a sudden, and you've heard this, folks went into Ridgedale Mall of America and they came out with 50 milligrams of Delta 8 gummies, maybe not knowing what they were doing.

Absolutely. You know, It's crazy to think that like people were buying Perhaps intoxicating THC from like a kiosk at the mall. Straight up, but that's how it was, and yeah.

And, and so that's where, you know, there started to be a good amount of back and forth from both sides. Some of the headier, more, uh, pure. Folks were like, no, I'm not touching Delta 8. Some of the folks that are going to be at our, um, at our December 3rd event. More, more on the pure, the pure side of the plan.

Uh, but I think the Delta 8 influx prepared us for the Delta 9 influx. So you started to see that same argument. And there were things in between, you know. So I think in Minnesota we've seen, let's, let's riff on this. We've seen a few waves. We've seen the CBD green rush. Yep. The crash of CBD biomass. Very much so.

The advent of Delta 8 or the adoption of Delta 8 and then THCO Delta 10, but also the realization that you can do this with Delta 9. And in the middle there, that's where things got a little tough and crazy. Like, it wasn't fair. That's when things We're like, okay, this is unregulated. There are loopholes, blah, blah, blah.

But the cease and desist frenzy of Minnesota breweries being told to stop CBD production while Wisconsin beverage producers were allowed to continue importing and producing and distributing, you know, there needed to be, uh, rules or the, the, the government needed to step in and the bipartisan support for capping Delta aid and put putting limits on Delta nine.

Was sort of like the 7th inning. Uh, the passing of HF100 and SF73, kind of the 8th inning. And it's almost like we're in the ninth inning and we're ready for a new game to start. Yeah, I love that analogy. And I think that's so apt when we look at like some of the early days and building up from where we were, like we've seen so many.

Monumental changes of, I can think of regulations that come out or new shifts in consumer demands in the industry when it's like, wow, this changes everything and then six months later, everything changes again. And that's sort of been, um, you know, it's, it's hilarious. I thought it was 2019 because it feels like it's been years, but really it has just been a couple of years of this wave of, I mean, 2019 was really sort of, I think that bubble of CBD, yeah.

And the crashing and rising and shifting and changing since then is, um, yeah, I definitely feel, feel that ninth Indian analogy for sure, for sure. And I think that's part of why I've set Canna Connect up to be a quarterly event series for now, because the pace of the industry in Minnesota. Has evolved so quickly that every three months you can find yourself in a new place.

Um, and so just, just to sort of like, you know, why did you, why did you go April 1st and then July 29th and then October? Well One, there's so many brands and two, we're inventing new products and, and I love the, I love the creativity and the innovation in the Minnesota cannabis industry. And I'm happy that we're able to refer to it as a cannabis industry now because of the legalization August 1st in Minnesota.

And it's opened up doors for all of us to, to be more creative, more innovative and, and to reach more people. 100 percent agree. And I think that transitions really nicely to talking about. Um, I mean, I could go on for hours talking about the history of this. I think, I think it's been so, such an amazing ride to, to be there and see the shifting of.

But I want to talk a little bit about some of the stuff you've been doing over the last couple of months and some of the things you have coming forward. So, um, we talked a bit at the offset of this beginning that you've hosted a ton of cannabis events here in Minnesota. Um, you've hosted everything from classes to events to connections to lunch and learns to even a couple community cleanup events.

Yeah, literally picking up garbage around the community, helping to make sure that the community that we're in is, is a. It's a clean one. Um, tell me a bit more about sort of what motivates you to bring people together. It sounds like it's not necessarily just exclusive to cannabis, but you're just You like connecting people and creating industry.

Yeah. Thank you. Um, I mean, I want to touch on the community cleanups, but I'll work my way back around there to there because I think that's a deeper topic, uh, for a lighter topic. I went to your rival high school. Um, oh yeah. And by the time I graduated from Wayzata, I knew everyone in my class. So we're talking like we have a class photo.

I was 18, and I could name every single person in that picture. So, that's a little bit of background on me, is that I enjoy meeting people. And just to, like, help illuminate, maybe for some listeners that are in outer Minnesota, roughly how many people would you say were in your class? You're not talking like 10 or 15.

We started with over 700, and I think we graduated with close to 600. Um, you know, we lost some people along the way, but the, the idea in the sense is like, what I love about Canada Connect is I'm able to absolutely maximize on my strengths. And that's what makes it so special is that my, I'm able to individualize these events and we're going to continue to niche them further so that people can really get value.

But also, I love maximizing situations, and I love Minneapolis, um, and I love The Wilderness. Like, I took an entrepreneurial class in 2014 at Coco, which is now The Wilderness. And it's a full circle moment for me, thinking about this, is that I took a class on like, what my big vision is for being an entrepreneur.

And not that my entire vision is putting on home grown classes with the Minnesota Cannabis College. But we're able to, um, execute on something that I was working on in a space that I've that I was at. And so, I love startups, I love new products, I love cannabis, I love that I am continuing to bang these seat chairs, so like, I apologize for the background noise, but you know, on the, on the community cleanup, we're, we're extremely lucky, I'm, I'm extremely privileged to be putting on events that cater to my personality and what I love to do, but we're not the only drug in town.

And if we're putting on events and capitalizing on a legal cannabis drug industry, uh, some would argue cannabis isn't a drug, it's medicine or a vitamin, but there's, there's folks on the street that are using drugs that don't have a safe place to consume and. Oftentimes they don't have a regard for the, for the mess that they, that they make and it's not on them, I think they're dealing with an addiction, they're dealing with a medical, a medical issue and so if we, in Uptown, if we continue to throw cannabis events, I want to continue to clean up the streets of Uptown so that we're able to show that the cannabis industry is responsible, that the cannabis industry is working to make The area better and not just taking from it, uh, because Minneapolis needs all the love it can get when it comes to cleaning it up.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I love that. And I think what we've seen from the events that we've done is like, um, I think from the trash that we've seen, it's insane how much alcohol bottles and lids and glass and is just spewed all over. And well, I'm sure we'll definitely get to a point in Minnesota where we're having.

Legal cannabis product trash that we're just like finding and pits and all that. I'm sure it's already happening. But um, it's definitely I think a cool thing to be able to say. We're not just holding events here, we're not just asking people to drive here, we're not just teaching you how to grow, we're actually looking at the area around us and saying, what can we do to help repair this, and to help really build up our whole community?

You know, the metaphor of the rising tides raises all ships, we're having a great time in Minneapolis, what can we do to help others have a great time as well? Yeah, and we're cannabis consumers, but so are others, you know, and other, and People in general are fast food consumers, they're soda consumers, they're alcohol consumers, and that's what we're finding on the streets, along with, along with, you know, just random trash.

But it's like, we as consumers have a responsibility to keep our streets clean. And we've had a lot of great people come out. We've had people come out just because it's a trash cleanup. Um, and so we need to keep that in mind and really continue moving that forward because, um, we can inspire more people to do things like that.

And I think we do make a difference, even if it's short term. But I remember driving in the next day and looking at, Oh wow, 29th Street is really looking nice today. It's cool to make a difference. And I think it's especially important while we're in The early days of what this industry is going to become, you know, we're sort of writing the rule book of what is Minnesota Cannabis business going to look like.

And I hope that we get to decide to be the business. That's going to be supportive of community. That's looking for ways to uplift people in our community and not just the people that were here, you know, about us because you see our sign and because we bring in traffic. But we're actually able to help improve the community.

Yeah, 360. Mm hmm, absolutely. Thinking back over the past couple of months, we've talked about that cleanup event, we've sort of hinted at a couple other events. What sort of stands out as some of the most impactful classes, panels, presentations, things that sort of stick out in your mind over the past few months?

Yeah, I really enjoyed Clem's answer to my question on July 31st when he was presenting about clones. It was cool to hear him talk about his work at Red Lake Nation, helping build that program as that program was coming online or had already launched. Um, I'm really proud of Clemon and it was fun to collaborate with him this summer.

I've known Clem, we met during undergrad at St. Thomas, and we have a lot of friends, mutual friends from back in the day, successful entrepreneurs who have played a role in the creation of Canada Connect. Behind the scenes like I won't pull that string too far, but like one of Clem's roommates created a software platform That has allowed me to develop the Canna Connect brand So it's like that's that's part of why you go to school is to to meet people, you know You can't do a learning it work from home work from home for school.

Like you got to go out and meet people Yeah, I as the teacher I will say it doesn't all happen in the classroom. That's for sure but putting on We're pulling off the Let's Come Together presentation with the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Cannabis College. It was probably the most difficult event we did together.

But it proved out that we can pull off a live stream at a professional venue and bring people together. And it was an entirely new group of people. Plus, we had a top tier panel. So, like, even the hard events have been fun. And then, you know, the last two homegirl classes, I was really impressed. The one where you hosted a bootcamp and delivered a full length presentation.

Uh, as well as the presentation that we coordinated with Boveda and Raiden Labs. The level of detail that is being delivered through these presentations is beyond what I could do by myself. And that's probably the coolest part about working with you. We're doing things that by ourselves there's no way that we could do.

Like, only way we could do it is together. And we're pulling off some of the most dynamic events in Minnesota cannabis history. Uh, I really mean that, like, look, I was able to negotiate a sponsorship with Storz and Bickel that allowed us to receive top of the line dryer vaporizers. Um, but working with you has leveled up my reputation with the community because we center our classes around education and science.

100 percent I actually, so I went back and looked at our previous rosters because we sort of started talking about these classes back over the summer and thinking about the number of classes that we've held since then the variety of topics when we've had more than 200 students come out to our events.

Check out education, get hands on experience with plants, with soil, with learning about some of the top tier techniques from some national brands that are based here in Minnesota. Um, I absolutely agree with you. I think it's been really so cool being able to get this done. Yeah, like make hay when the sun shines and like the sun was shining in 2023 and, um, I mean, some people feel this is controversial, but like, can it connect to and, and finally hearing that Governor Jesse Ventura had arrived.

Like, last minute before his panel was supposed to start, like, I mean, I wore a My Governor Can Beat Up Your Governor shirt to the Capitol in third grade, and, like, Canada Connect 2, the timing of it was perfect, um, getting more people involved, and then, That was a goal that we had, like, I remember telling, uh, John Douglas in April, I was like, I want to get Jesse Ventura to Canna Connect, and three months later, four months later, we did.

So it's like, the pace of us, like, three, four months from now, three, four months from now, and that's why Like I'm excited soon after this podcast drops to put out the calendar for our early 2024. Like we've got four, maybe five classes coming online really, really soon. And honestly, like the CannaConnect and the Minnesota Cannabis College has been the easiest collaboration that we've done.

I mean, it's ongoing with CannaConnect, like we're just able to do so much because we have strengths in different areas. 100 percent agree. And it's been cool to think like. You know, the news about Jesse Ventura standing up and saying, I want to have my face on an edible made like national news and, you know, people have come out to these grow classes and we've had people stream that Boveda class from across the United States.

Honestly, even in other countries, people are tuning into the events that happened all because we sat down and say, Hey, what can we do to help bring more cannabis education to Minnesota? So it's been so amazing being able to partner with Canada Connect. So thanks for. Shout out to you guys for the activism and the work behind the scenes ahead of time.

It really just came down to like, Economics 101, like, I have a venue, you have a class, you have a class, I have a venue. It's really a match made in classroom heaven, as you can say. Yeah, no, 100%. And they've been, I think, just so cool. It's not even the best way to phrase it. I think they've just been like the most amazing events that we could have hosted thinking about the number of people that have gotten hands on with cannabis that before walking in those doors, maybe had never even seen a plant in person and then we're able to go home and say, now I'm growing cannabis all because I went to a Canna connected.

Right, right. And I'm excited to learn more about how your platform will grow and how you're able to stay in touch with these students. Because some of these students from July now have really big plants, or are in the process of drying their cannabis for their, their first legal round of, of growing, uh, or some are still in veg.

And, you know, you just had a class last night about vegetation and, and the state of, of your plants in, in that, in veg. These, this is new stuff. This wasn't in your science books in, in high school. Right. So. You know, let's, let's continue to educate young and old, uh, because this plant is so miraculous. Yeah, 100%.

So I want to sort of transition away from the events briefly just to ask you one more question about the industry. Because you, sort of like us, the Minnesota Cannabis College, We don't grow. We don't sort of make our own cannabis products that people can buy and consume. We make other cannabis products that are pretty cool.

But, um, as sort of a quasi outsider to this industry, what challenges do you see coming up in the Minnesota cannabis industry? Or, if you want to phrase it more positively. What opportunities do you see coming up in the industry, um, that really we need people to sort of step in and help fill? Yeah, yeah, this is a good question.

I'm, I'm excited to answer it. I think the indoor consumption rules will be an ongoing challenge to bridge the gap between the legacy market and the professional cannabis industry. We'll continue to have workarounds as it relates to inhalation. Um, and if I had to guess the riff with the medical companies coming into the Adult use space will worsen in 2024.

There just hasn't been enough outreach on their end to warrant the idea that they want to coexist. Uh, and I don't have any, I don't have an issue with anyone who works there, but it just looks and feels like they feel boxed into a privileged area, and they don't feel the need to reach out to the greater cannabis community.

Maybe at the biggest events, they have a presence, but there's no, there's no real work happening at my level that I notice. And I think that could easily change, but I haven't seen enough from them to expect a better relationship in 2024. And so, unfortunately, those are like the negatives that I see around, um, either consumption or distribute or retail.

Um, but, uh, keep growing, keep growing at home, folks. Like, that's your key to success. Absolutely. No, I, I absolutely agree with you there. And I think that You know, there is a really cool opportunity for our medical producers here in the state. That's really large businesses to really help support local business.

And I think, like you said, we haven't haven't seen much of that yet. Um, and then, you know, in the middle, like, it's not you or you or I that needs to fix that. Like, The state should look at itself and, and look at what's realistic, um, because maybe some of the rules that the medical companies have to follow, um, maybe aren't as necessary as there's more providers being brought online.

Let's just lay it on the table like a medical company is not allowed to run out of product or they are at risk of losing their license. So they're incentivized operationally to overproduce and have a back stock of supply and potentially what happens to that supply when it goes bad. Uh, so speaking as a consumer, I'd rather have more options.

And higher quality, uh, I think we all would. So, um, let's figure that out as well. Like, I mean, let's incentivize for the right reasons. I 100 percent agree with that one. So, um, I reached out to you back over the summer. And said, hey man, we should really put on some awesome classes. You know, you're throwing these cool events.

We've got some cool education we want to do. Let's partner together. I think, you know, we've had a lot of people that's written into our show, asked us questions either for Jen or otherwise, that we know are cannabis business owners, cannabis business operators. They work for cannabis businesses and they might be thinking right now, Hey, I sort of want to host an event.

Maybe we're launching a new product. Maybe, you know, I really want to be able to feature my brand to consumers in a particular way. And they're thinking, Hey, I don't know how to do that. Yeah. How would they go about reaching out to you to Canna Connect? How do they, how do they do that? Yeah, so we have a form on our website that you can fill out.

It comes to me. Uh, you can also skip that entirely and go straight to email events at cleangreenmedia.com. Uh, I appreciate the emails more than the DMs. Uh, You know, we need organic connection. Um, we can't just put an event together. At least we're trying to think more holistically about it. Uh, but we're also putting a deck together that brands can request later in December, where we can show you what we're offering and have packages for you.

I really want to be able to develop the promotional side of this business because the events are going well. And how can we promote more of the industry? Um, we're working on Canada connect for. I'm not ready to announce those details yet, but we will be back in 2024. Uh, and we want to do stuff in between, but it has to feel right.

Is it safe to announce that the Minnesota Cannabis College will be at your next Canna No, no, no, I can't just No, no, no, no, I mean, either way, you know that I'm gonna be there, because every single event that we've come to in the past that's been CannaConnect has been really valuable, has really found some awesome connections in the industry, they've really been A great time and fun, so.

Yeah, and the biggest thing that I can do better at is bringing more communities together. I've began to have some preliminary conversations on like a new event concept to help bridge the gap between the legacy market and those that are new to the cannabis industry. Uh, because we want to, we want to have less divide for sure.

And we, we want to do things the right way. So we're coming into the end part of the year. Um, it's crazy to think that cannabis has really only been quasi legal for like less than four months here in Minnesota. Um, like that's insane to think about, but what is coming up in the next part for Canada connect looking up to next year, any, any big things that you want to talk about or, uh, release here?

Um, you know, I want to bring attention to what we're doing on December 3rd. Oh yeah. Because I'm, Unfortunately, like, the way I've been running things is, like, I can only worry about, like, what's in front of me. I get that one. I'm pulling back, pulling back a little bit, but, you know, we have concentrating on concentrates, where you can press your own flower at the wilderness.

It starts at 4 o'clock. It's Sunday, December 3rd. We're bringing together some of the headiest, uh, growers, extractors in the Minnesota industry. Afterwards, we have a book release party for your new book. Uh, I'm sure you're plugging that on this, uh, this show today. So, Processing Cannabis at Home in Minnesota, A Beginner's Guide.

Um, there's gonna be copies of Tanner's book and the Minnesota Cannabis College, uh, for sale. Also like limited edition concentrate containers, food and beverage, like high quality, we're talking Kowalski's, Granny's, Modist Brewing, the highest quality and low key. We're going to have a Sesh with Stoned American following the festivities, so make sure you get your ticket to this event.

Yeah, it's going to be a really fun time. Um, we'll be talking about that in like the next segment. You actually broke some news before, before we broke it here on the podcast, which is super awesome. Uh, I can't tell you about 2024 yet. I'm just working on it. Like I'm, it's been a busy year, you know, 100 percent no, I think it's, it's, we've gotten so much done just in the past couple of months of this year.

I think we just have so much potential looking at next year. I love that. So you actually will be back on this podcast in the future. You're going to be coming on in the future, talking about some cool events coming up, talking about things going on in the industry. So people and listeners and soon viewers can be on the lookout for that.

Um, but for those wanting to connect with you sooner, for those wanting to hear about events going on, how can they connect with you? Yeah, I'm everywhere, CannaConnect, across all platforms, CannaConnectMN, I'm officially verified on Twitter because I pay Elon Musk, and I've got no problem with that. Uh, but no, I'm on, I'm even on TikTok, trying to get better at that, uh, but really, like, We just have to be all, we have to be across all platforms, like, Instagram is sort of where the Minnesota cannabis industry hangs out.

Um, but I really, you know, try to be everywhere and I'm gonna try to get better at making sure I've got content on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, like, shout out to Stoned American, he helped me get like 700 new followers this year. That's awesome. Well, we'll definitely link to that in the show notes for those wanting to connect, definitely check that out.

Um, but otherwise, thanks so much for coming on today. Thanks so much for chatting with me about the industry we've seen growing, some of the things that we've got upcoming and just some of the amazing things that we've accomplished. So, um, we'll be chatting with you again very soon. Thank you, Tanner.

And we're back. So in this last segment, we want to talk about some pretty exciting news that we have here at the Minnesota Cannabis College. We're coming out with a new book. Marcus, did you know that? I just found out. Yeah. Yeah. Do you know about it now? Just kidding. Yeah, I'm excited. I can't wait. Yeah, what's cool is we're sitting here in the studio.

We actually have some draft copies of it. They're, they're not out yet. It doesn't totally come out until December 3rd, but we're sort of excited to be able to talk about it a bit today. So, the title of this book, Processing Cannabis at Home in Minnesota, A Beginner's Guide. It's a sequel to sort of our best selling book, looking at that growing side.

This one is obviously focusing on that next step, the whole processing side. Yeah, I'm excited. Like, I want to learn how to do it all. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And what I love is, you know, when I think of processing, I think it's such a big topic. You know, there's everything from making edibles to, you know, making dry sift to making some pretty cool rosins that you and I both Yeah, I mean, you know, the concentrates are efficient.

Yeah, and what's cool is we live in Minnesota where it is now legal for people to be making these at home. You just need to know how to do it. It doesn't really take too much more equipment than what most people already have at home. So, um, we're excited to be releasing this book, um, with Minnesota Solventless and OG in the community, um, to really walk people through how to go about doing that.

Um, we're excited. This book is all in color. We've got some really awesome photos. You can see the steps as you work through them. If you're making one of our awesome recipes, you can see what that looks like. If you're making some bubble hash, you can see what the equipment, what that process looks like.

We're, we're pretty excited about it. I mean, I have a copy of my hand now and it's, it's just. So wonderful. I mean, it's a beautiful book. I love the consistency and the branding. I love how professional it is yet accessible for amateurs. Well done. Thank you. Yeah, we're really excited to be able to release this.

In fact, we're so excited that we're throwing a party. Anyone that wants to come out and join us. If you're listening to this right now, it means you likely helped support. The Minnesota Cannabis College, maybe you attended a class, maybe you bought a book, maybe you just told a friend about this podcast, um, and we're excited to be able to bring everyone together to celebrate.

So, to learn a little bit more about that, mncannabiscollege.org/party, um, it's December 3rd, 6-7pm in Minneapolis. And we're really looking forward to it, so definitely feel free to come out and join us. We'll have copies of our book for sale. Anyone that buys the book there can get a limited edition Minnesota Cannabis College concentrate container, so totally branded, and you can walk around with your cool homemade dabs in that container, and um, we'll have food and beverages and all that.

And then I'm supposed to throw in that those containers are, well, supplies last. Yeah, you better act fast while those supplies last. I mean, I have to brag for a second. The Minnesota Cannabis College logo is, it's, it's so beautiful. I mean, if I look at all the, I mean, we're not registered as the higher education institution, even though we provide higher education, but it's, it's, oh my God, I want to have that.

Yeah. It's going to be the only concentrate container I ever use. Yeah. I, I'm really excited to be able to bring these out and show them off to people. So, um, come on out to that party. You can learn more about that there. Um, to sort of celebrate here on the podcast, Marcus, I took one of my favorite recipes in the book.

Um, in fact, people, if you, if you have your copy at home, which I know most people listening to this won't yet, because it's not out yet, but if you're going to see this a couple weeks later, you got your copy at home. You can yourself actually flip to page 25 and see the recipe for our classic cannabis brownies.

These brownies are dedicated to Brownie Mary, Mary Rathburn. We've actually talked about her on the podcast before, but she's an OG in the cannabis community. Really showed people the healing power of cannabis, and she actually has a history here in Minnesota, so sort of an OG. So check those out. Marcus, we're going to try a little a little piece here.

So anyone that wants to see that recipe, check out our book. We'll also, we'll link to it on our, on our social media. So, so you can try out this recipe yourself. Um, let's try, try one of these brownies. So, um, I tweaked the recipe slightly following the steps on how to infuse rosin in it. So this doesn't have any actual flour in it.

It's, it's all rosin based. Also, what we did is we brush a very light. water, butter brush on the top and sprinkled with some of that, uh, THC infused sugar from, from here at love is an ingredient. So sort of got a little bit of the store bought THC, a little bit of the, the homegrown THC. Um, Oh, and that's the other thing that I forgot to mention is the rosin that's in this is actually rosin that, that I made.

It's it's bubble hash rosin following the steps in this book. From cannabis that I grew here in Minnesota following the steps and our other book. So I'm about to start crying. I'm so emotional. Yeah, this is, I really think a culmination of a lot of what we worked for. It's sort of silly to say that it's in this brownie, but, um, it's in this brownie.

So let's, let's break off a piece. Let's try it out. Go, um, feel free to feel free to, to, to break something off. Um, this is an olive oil based brownie. So that way we can really infuse it with that. So it's wow. Keeps that gooeyness. Even the texture in my hand is just phenomenal. Mm hmm. Take off a little piece here.

Damn, Tanner, I didn't know you were a culinary artist. Super easy. Just following the recipe that's in our book. Um Yeah. That's good, man. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. And what's cool is, you know, we can't obviously offer one of these to every single person listening to this podcast. I can't, you know, drive to your house, give you one of these brownies.

Um, but I can at least give you the instructions. of everything we used from the growing to the pressing to the, to the, to the baking. Um, you can go in and do yourself and, and we definitely encourage people to want to go out on the deep end here. This is 30 milligrams total. Yeah. The whole thing is. Okay, cool.

Hopefully this is.

Yeah, for reals, if you don't know who Brownie Mary is, I absolutely recommend you go check out one of our early podcasts or otherwise Google her name. She's such an important person in the community, such an important icon when we look at the history of medicinal cannabis, but also just cannabis activism generally.

So, um, definitely an important person. And someone who grew up here in Minnesota. Man, the crunchy texture on the outside and the soft texture on the inside is just so good. The flavor is great. Yeah, and this is a chilled brownie. It is one that you can heat up and enjoy, sort of like the ooey gooeyness of it.

Um, super good if you want to top it over ice cream. There's just, there's so much to do with, with homemade edibles. Man. The only limits are our imagination. Yeah. So, if you want to pick up a copy of the book that talks you through how to make your rosin, how to make your edibles, how to make so many other products that you can use at home, um, come join us on December 3rd.

Or, if you're not able to make it, no sweat. You also can go on our website, pre order a copy of your book, have it in your hands by, like, December 4th at the latest. Um, so, definitely go and check that out. Um, you can learn more information, MN cannabis college. org backslash party for a link to that party, um, or www.mncannabiscollege.org/shop to learn a little bit more about that book. But, uh, thanks for trying that brownie, Marcus. Thanks for making it. Thanks for sharing. Absolutely. So we'll be back in a couple of weeks. Just a reminder when we come back, we actually will be a video podcast. So you can keep listening here.

We'll keep this feed going. Obviously the audio podcast is going to stick around. But if you want to see our smiling faces, uh, check on out to our YouTube page, give that a subscriber. You can watch our next episode. Um, we'll be back in just a couple of weeks. In the meantime, find us on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, all that good stuff.

Make sure you're subscribed to get that episode auto delivered to your phone in just a couple of weeks. Um, and then also be sure to leave a comment in the show, if you like it, if you don't send us a DM and, uh, and then share it with a friend, we, we love being able to hear people say, Hey, I listened to a podcast and shared with a buddy of mine and he loved it.

So definitely, uh, be sure to do that. Yeah. A lot of liking, commenting, sharing, subscribing and following requests. Yeah. Calls to action. Absolutely. It's a. One of the, the least expensive ways to help support our organization is just by telling a friend about what we're doing. So, thank you guys all so much for listening.

We'll be back in a couple weeks. In the meantime, uh, keep making homemade edible. Talk to y'all soon guys. Be safe and have fun.

Northern Lights is a Minnesota Cannabis College production. This episode was produced by me, Tanner Berris. And by my cohost, Marcus Harcus, production assistants from Shana Payton and John Bartee. Special thanks to Steve Eigenmann for coming in and talking about his past experience in the Minnesota cannabis industry.

Today's episode is presented by North Star Law Group, your trusted partner in Minnesota's burgeoning legal cannabis industry. The information provided in this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice, but is instead intended for general information purposes only. Information shared may not constitute the most up to date legal information.

And no listener should act solely on the basis of information provided without first seeking advice from their own legal counsel. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not reflect those of the Minnesota Cannabis College. Please listen responsibly.