In contrast to some Minnesota lawmakers who seemed surprised they legalized another type of THC products this month, Mankato sellers were neither caught unaware of the change nor taken aback by the immediate consumer interest in the products.
Gummies and other edible or drinkable products containing 5 milligrams of delta-9 THC per serving — with up to 50 milligrams of THC total per package — legally hit shelves July 1. THC is the component in cannabis producing a “high” feeling.”
The key to the new law is the edible products have to be derived from hemp, meaning they’re from a cannabis plant with less than 0.3% THC. Marijuana products, derived from a cannabis plant with more than 0.3% THC, remain illegal to sell for recreational use.
It didn’t take long for customers to seek the products in Mankato, said Rachel Lozano, general manager of CBD Centers on St. Andrews Drive.
“From July 1 to July 3 we were cleared out within hours,” she said.
The hemp store had THC edibles available in blue raspberry, strawberry and peach mango gummy flavors Thursday, as well as in chocolate bar and beverage forms. The products complement a range of offerings with CBD, also derived from hemp but not associated with a high.
CBD Centers manager Rachel Lozano holds a peach mango flavored delta-9 THC gummy in the store Thursday. The products, derived from hemp, became legal in 5-milligram doses with up to 50 milligrams per package on July 1.
Whether customers seek out edibles for relief from stress or chronic pain or for recreation, Lozano said the store differs from competitors in emphasizing education and getting its hemp from a Waseca production plant.
“We took the middleman out,” she said. “We just ask patience from the community while we try to hit overdrive in production in Waseca.”
Smokers Choice on Stadium Road is also finding itself in the education game on the edibles since the July 1 rollout. Customers started coming in with questions about delta-9 THC right away after seeing it on the news, said manager Fares Ibrahim.
Many of them didn’t know another form of THC products, delta-8, had already been on the market.
“For the first three or four days, 50% of the people who walked in didn’t know what delta-8 was,” he said. “They were only interested in delta-9.”
He suspects people who try both will end up choosing delta-8 due to better pricing per dosage.
“People are trying delta-9 and they’re loving it, but the vast majority of customers would go back to delta-8,” he said. “We try to explain the difference between them as a customer service.”
Russell Coutley, a worker at Smokers Choice on Stadium Road in Mankato, poses with the store’s newly legal delta-9 THC edibles Wednesday. Stores also have a wide range of another type of THC products, delta-8, available. Demand for the products has been high since a July 1 law change.
Delta-8 is currently available in more forms. Ibrahim named cartridges, gummies, cookies, chips and liquid shots as examples. Delta-9 was more limited to gummies in the early days, he said, with Minnesota-based Prairie Hemp Products being a popular choice.
Delta-8 and delta-9 can serve two different purposes for customers, said Jacob Talty, a sales educator at CBD Centers. For body pain, customers might like delta-8. Delta-9 could be seen as more recreational, producing a head high.
Minnesota Democratic leaders have said they pursued the new law in part to regulate the already available delta-8. The 2018 federal Farm Bill opened up a pathway for delta-8 products to hit the market, and it did so as an under-the-radar intoxicant in Minnesota and other states with otherwise strict bans on THC products.
Delta-8 had been available in much larger doses and packages than 5 milligrams and 50 milligrams, respectively, so Democrats and Republicans saw the law as a way to moderate it. By making the wording vague enough to also regulate and legalize delta-9, though, Democratic leaders championed it as another incremental step toward wider THC legalization in Minnesota.
Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in at least 19 states and Washington, D.C. Minnesota is one of 38 states where it’s legal for medical use.
Rise Dispensary in Mankato, which provides medical cannabis to patients, hasn’t seen much of an impact from the newly recreational products on the market so far, said Austin Monroe, customer service representative. People have been coming in with questions since July 1, so dispensaries are also having to educate people about the differences between medical-grade and recreational-grade products.
One big difference is that medicinal products are derived from marijuana, a cannabis plant with the higher percentage of THC. Another is the dosage, as dispensaries will be able to sell patients edibles with 10 milligrams of THC per serving in up to 100-milligram packages starting Aug. 1.
And unlike the recreational delta-9 THC in edible forms, the medicinal program started selling dried marijuana plant after another law change on March 1. This leafy, smokable form, likely the type most familiar to those who’ve tried marijuana before, led to an immediate uptick in patients enrolled in the program.
Leading Minnesota Republicans appeared caught off guard by what the July 1 law change actually did. Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, the chair of the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee, told the Star Tribune he thought the provision regulated the delta-8 THC products already on the market rather than legalizing delta-9 THC.
“I thought we were doing a technical fix, and it winded up having a broader impact than I expected,” he said to the newspaper.
Newly legal, hemp-derived THC products are available in gummies, beverages and other forms after a new law taking effect on July 1. Stores expect to have a wide range of edible products in the coming months.
Kim Bermis, chair of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, said the “clandestine” process pushed by the law’s Democratic backers warranted more public scrutiny.
“It would have benefited from further discussion, especially since there’s no taxation,” he said.
Minnesota and communities won’t receive revenue from sales to help offset the impacts on it. Some cities are pursuing municipal-level laws to regulate it.
The only regulatory body currently in place is the state pharmacy board, Bermis said, but it won’t have the funding to inspect products for quality and compliance.
He said his group and others have concerns about youth having easier access to the products, as well as the higher potency of modern THC products. While there’s a limit on how many milligrams per dose and total milligrams in each package, people could eat multiple doses and buy multiple packages.
“There’s no cap on the products you can buy,” Bemis said. “It’s haphazard.”
A 5-milligram dose will hit people differently depending on a range of factors. Someone new to THC may feel a strong high from it, while an experienced user may not.
The entrepreneurs in Mankato said a newcomer could start with one dose, or possibly even a half dose to ease into the products. An edible takes a little while to work its way through your system, so patience would be wise. You don’t want to be the person who doesn’t feel any effect at first, impatiently ingests more than they should, and has a bad time.
Like alcohol, mixing THC misuse with existing anxiety or other mental health conditions are bad combos.
Guardrails within the new laws include no sales to people younger than 21, no advertising to children, and child-proof packaging. Bemis, who said his group doesn’t support criminalizing THC usage, hopes for a roll-back of the law or at least further regulations if Minnesotans vote for Republican control in the November elections.
Democratic leaders have said they want to further legalize THC if voters give them more control in Minnesota.
CBD Centers welcomed the July 1 change. It helps remove the stigma attached to THC, Lozano said. It’s been a rollercoaster first two weeks of the new law, she added, with more people seeking out the products out of curiosity, relief or recreation.
“They were just waiting for it to be legalized, because they want to follow the law,” she said. “They want to do it the right way.”
Heather Lane, of Mankato, sought out CBD Centers about a year ago to manage chronic pain with CBD. She said a mix of CBD and THC products have helped her phase out a litany of prescription drugs she used to need.
Lane hated the side effects associated with the prescription drugs, saying they messed with her head, made her feel fatigued and suppressed her appetite. It was hard to get out of bed while she was on them, she said.
“And to be laying in bed in pain all day doesn’t make sense to me,” she said Thursday.
She swears by CBD and THC products as helpful in pain relief, buying enough after July 1 to help her recover from a recent back surgery.
The law change’s limitations on milligrams per dosage and packages does mean she has to buy more than she did before. Apart from that downside, she said the relief she gets from the products remains a price worth paying under the new law.
“If it works, and helps you get through the day, why not?” she said.
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