This Saturday at 10 a.m. will mark the long-anticipated launch of adult-use marijuana sales on tribal land within North Carolina, as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI)-owned Great Smoky Cannabis Co. opens its doors to anyone 21 and older.
Because marijuana remains illegal in North Carolina, EBCI’s moves to legalize and regulate cannabis sales to not just tribal members but also visitors has been a controversial affair. The vote a year ago to legalize recreational sales prompted blowback from congressional lawmakers from North Carolina and an effort to reduce federal funding for tribes and other jurisdictions that legalize marijuana.
The opening of The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. to all adults comes on the anniversary of the election that legalized adult-use marijuana on EBCI’s 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary. Passage of the measure on a 70–30 margin represented not just members’ support for the reform itself but also an assertion of tribal sovereignty.
Rob Pero, founder of the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association (ICIA), told Marijuana Moment that even outside the region, EBCI’s move to legalize and launch sales have “sent shockwaves through Indian country,” underscoring the power and potential of what sovereign tribes can do.
“A lot of tribes have already taken action on their own, on their own lands, to either decriminalize or legalize in some cases—and now for the betterment of the state, not just their own interests,” Pero said.
Great Smoky Cannabis began selling medical marijuana on April 20 of this year. In July, the store began recreational sales—but only to members of EBCI and other federally recognized Indian tribes. Saturday will mark the first legal cannabis sales to other adults within North Carolina—or any of its bordering states.
None of North Carolina’s neighbors—Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina or Virginia—has legal adult-use cannabis sales, meaning the Great Smokey Cannabis Company will be the sole marijuana retailer within a region in the Southeast spanning hundreds of square miles.
Notably, products products purchased at Great Smoky Cannabis Co. cannot legally be taken off tribal land. Nor, however, can cannabis be consumed on store property.
Leaders announced the store opening in early August.
Marijuana legalization on the Qualla Boundary is expected to eventually bring in millions of dollars in revenue for the tribe. Forrest Parker, general manager of the Qualla Enterprises said last July that “If adult-use were legalized, revenue could conservatively reach $385 million in the first year and exceed $800 million by year five.”
In March, ahead of the dispensary’s start of medical marijuana sales, two Republican senators wrote to federal, state and local officials to ask what steps they were taking to enforce marijuana prohibition.
“As our nation is facing an unprecedented drug crisis that is harming our communities, it is vital to learn what measures your departments and agencies are taking to uphold current federal and state laws,” wrote Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Ted Budd (R-NC). The matter, they added, “raises multiple questions on how North Carolina communities will be kept safe.”
The tribe’s moves to legalize despite North Carolina’s ongoing prohibition of marijuana drew criticism from other politicians, as well, including Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC). Ahead of last year’s election on adult use, Edwards, who is not Native, authored an op-ed in Cherokee One Feather, the tribal newspaper, warning that legalization on EBCI land “would be irresponsible, and I intend to stop it.”
While the U.S. legally cannot block the tribe from passing its own laws around marijuana, Edwards threatened to cut federal funding from the tribe if legalization proceeds. He said legislation he introduced in Congress called the Stop Pot Act that would “defund governments that ignore federal law.” The bill has not progressed, however.
Edwards told local a local news outlet earlier this summer that he planned to “remain steadfast” in his opposition to legalization.
District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch, meanwhile, has said that she respects EBCI’s tribal sovereignty but intends to enforce state law against marijuana.
“The mission, duty and privilege of the 43rd Prosecutorial District is to enforce state laws. We do not pick certain laws to enforce and ignore others,” she told Citizen Times in April.
Last week, prosecutorial District 43 spokesperson Quintin Ellison told the paper the earlier statement stands “as is.”
ICIA’s Pero told Marijuana Moment that EBCI’s willingness to navigate the pushback from U.S. and North Carolina officials has been inspiring to other tribes attempting to assert their own sovereignty, regardless of members’ views on cannabis legalization itself.
“Tribes have decided, at least in some cases, we want to own the narratives,” he said. “We’re going to tell our stories regardless of fear of repercussions and judgment.”
As the tribe was trying to get its medical marijuana program off the ground last year, operators ran into numerous delays over matters such as marijuana transportation, lab testing and banking.
One obstacle was that its cannabis production plans involved transporting medical marijuana along a short stretch of state-owned roadway, which Swain County officials said presented a problem.
Tribal governments in a handful of U.S. states have entered the marijuana business as more jurisdictions legalize. Notably, in Minnesota, where state lawmakers passed an adult-use marijuana program last year, tribes are leading the way.
Minnesota’s cannabis law allows tribes within the state to open marijuana businesses before the state itself begins licensing retailers. Some tribal governments—including the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, the White Earth Nation and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe—have already entered the legal market.
It’s believed that in 2020, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, located in South Dakota, became the first tribe to vote to legalize marijuana within a U.S. state where the plant remained illegal.
In Wisconsin, where Pero is located, indigenous leaders have worked together to craft a campaign called Wisconsin Wellness, which earlier this week held an event at the state Capitol in favor of legalizing medical marijuana.
This Saturday at 10 a.m. will mark the long-anticipated launch of adult-use marijuana sales on tribal land within North Carolina, as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI)-owned Great Smoky Cannabis Co. opens its doors to anyone 21 and older. Because marijuana remains illegal in North Carolina, EBCI’s moves to legalize and regulate cannabis sales Read More
