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CASS LAKE —
Since recreational marijuana became legal on Aug. 1, 2023,
aspiring entrepreneurs across Minnesota have patiently awaited licensure to operate dispensaries and cultivation facilities.
With license applications expected from the
Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management
in early- to mid-2025, some budding business owners have taken proactive steps to success as they play the waiting game.
With plans to open her indoor craft cannabis cultivation facility 10 miles south of
Therese Haugen is one of these people.
Registered as an LLC coined “T’s THC,” Haugen and her team have made steady progress on their 10,800-square-foot facility that will eventually house the necessary conditions for cultivation. With a focus on quality, Haugen detailed plans to supply cannabis flower, concentrates and edibles throughout the first two years of operation.
“My objective for year one is simply cultivation and supplying to dispensaries and distributors. Minnesota hasn’t really worked that part out yet, but I want to supply,” Haugen said. “Year two, I want to double my growth.”
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Haugen finds it important to focus on a few good products and thus doesn’t plan to sell THC drinks.
“I don’t want to have my hand in too many things, otherwise I feel like my business isn’t going to flourish,” Haugen said. “We want to be one of the standards for quality in Minnesota.”
Watering the roots
Built on land purchased by her father in the 1970s, Haugen co-owns the property with her brother, Cecil Haugen Jr. With all seven of Haugen’s brothers being avid hunters, a deer stand constructed next door to the facility will stay there long after Haugen opens up shop.
Haugen’s childhood also had a heavy focus on gardening.
“I was growing potatoes by the time I was 5 years old with my dad,” she recalled. “My mom grew flowers and she was friends with people who were hardcore Master Gardeners, so gardening is in my blood.”
Haugen’s initial exposure to cannabis would come during an international tour to Europe as part of her involvement as a music major at Bemidji State University from 2004 to 2009.
“In Amsterdam, cannabis was accepted socially and there was a lot of cannabis in lots of places,” Haugen said. “(In the U.S.), it was not socially acceptable. It’s kind of cool to see it progress 20 years later.”
Once Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize adult-use marijuana last year,
Haugen leaned into connections she had made across state boundaries to recruit staff members and navigate several moving parts of a business. One such connection, Virginia native Lewis Clements, moved to Minnesota in September to aid Haugen as she watered the roots of her business.
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“He’s been here since September because we thought the process was going to move faster,” Haugen said, “so we’ve been twiddling our thumbs a little bit.”
Marked by spouts of activity followed by periods of waiting, Clements will act as director of cultivation and has assisted with construction. Haugen’s husband, Christopher Konecne, also assists with planning while Haugen focuses on marketing and networking.
This work is its own full-time job for Haugen as she currently averages over 40 hours a week.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
“Like with everything, people may see this as easy,” Haugen mentioned, “but there’s so much more to everything than what appears.”
In the midst of hard work, however, there is no place Haugen would rather be.
“I’ve worked retail, supervising over 300 employees,” she noted, “but this is where I feel like I belong. I’m happiest doing this right now.”
Business is budding
Despite an anticipated 2025 application becoming available, prioritization may be given to those who are considered social equity applicants.
According to the Office of Cannabis Management website,
social equity applicants include those with prior convictions of marijuana possession or sales, service-disabled veterans, current or former members of the U.S. National Guard or any military veteran or current or former member of the National Guard who lost honorable status due to an offense involving the possession or sale of cannabis.
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Other social equity applicants include residents of a neighborhood that has experienced a disproportionately large amount of cannabis enforcement for at least five years, emerging farmers and residents of at least five years of census tracts with high poverty rates.
In the meantime, Haugen and her team have frequented many cannabis-related events across the state, connecting with potential dispensaries and informing the public about marijuana.
T’s THC has also hosted free “Cannabis Basics 101” and “Grow Cannabis 101” classes where attendees can learn the basics of the plant. Such classes have taken place in Moorhead, Walker, Park Rapids, Cass Lake and Baxter as Haugen plans to hit other spots throughout greater Minnesota.
“Whoever wants to learn how to grow should have that education and I don’t believe in charging for it,” Haugen said. “My strategy is to not hit the Twin Cities market or Duluth as it’s already saturated in those markets.”
As the state makes strides toward its licensing system, Haugen expressed excitement about the future as she derives personal and professional benefits of marijuana legalization.
“Checking on your plants becomes a whole new hobby,” Haugen said. “I’ve been married to my husband for 20 years, and having our homegrown plants has really brought us together in a lot of ways. … I just want this world where cannabis is supported, legally safe and socially accepted. If I could live in a world like that, I’d be completely happy.”
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