Weed on the border: What happened when marijuana money came to small U.P. towns – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

It’s a 10-hour, two-meal round-trip drive to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to buy marijuana for some folks.

But the pot pilgrims don’t mind. It’s a pretty drive.

Surrounded by vast fields of grass and fall-colored trees offsetting green pines on a recent October day, two middle-aged Minnesotans wearing jeans walked out of Glazed and Confused, one of the only businesses in Mastodon, a 700-person U.P. town along the Wisconsin border.

An occasional semi blows by on U.S. 2. One of the two men is carrying a box. Inside are sealed bags of commercial cannabis flower and THC vaping cartridges worth hundreds of dollars.

“It’s closer than Colorado,” said one of the gravelly-voiced men. The two don’t want to share their names. The plant’s historically bad reputation lingers despite it being legal in Michigan since 2018 and since August in their home state of Minnesota, where shops aren’t expected to open until 2025.

The men represent the target market for Michigan marijuana stores sprouting up along the fringes of the western U.P. — out-of-staters.

Weed has become a big business along the border. There’s a battle for market share and large quantities of commercial marijuana entering neighboring…