More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co., in Cherokee, North Carolina, thousands from across the region have now made purchases at what’s currently the only regulated cannabis retailer within hundreds of square miles.
Marijuana remains outlawed for all purposes in North Carolina, and none of the state’s neighbors—Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina or Virginia—have legalized recreational sales. That puts Great Smoky, located on the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), in a unique and sometimes complicated situation.
Ahead of last year’s election in which the tribe legalized adult-use cannabis, for example, a U.S. congressman representing North Carolina introduced legislation that would have cut federal funding for tribes where marijuana is legal.
But since first opening to all adults 21 and older on September 10, the mood at Great Smoky has been celebratory. Tribal members—including Great Smoky’s general manager, Forrest Parker—and the thousands of non-members who’ve showed up in recent days are reveling in the significance of the moment.
Parker himself described the project as “the most inspiring thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
“We’re the first regulated cannabis in the Bible Belt—in this region,” he told Marijuana Moment in an interview last week. “When you go talk to some of these people, even if they’ve been waiting way longer than they expected, a lot of folks are showing up to just be part of history.”
Exactly a year ahead of Great Smoky’s recent grand opening, about 70 percent of EBCI members voted to legalize adult-use cannabis via a ballot measures after previously greenlighting a medical marijuana program. Medical cannabis sales began on April 20 of this year, and in July, the store opened recreational sales to members of EBCI and other federally recognized tribes.
For many in the community, opening marijuana sales to all adults represents not just a milestone but also an assertion of tribal sovereignty.
“It’s the first time a tribe, through the execution of sovereignty, has regulated cannabis prior to the state,” Parker said. “And that’s been the most inspiring thing for us folks who are Eastern Cherokee.”
It’s also drawn attention and interest from other tribes, which Parker said has been overwhelming. “We’re just trying to get it done and make it happen here for the community and this tribe,” he said, “and then to see that support and that love has been crazy.”
At the same time, being the only game in town—and for many surrounding towns—means plenty of pressure and considerable scrutiny. For an entire region of the country, Great Smoky sees itself as an ambassador for legal cannabis and an example of what a regulated market can look like. Many who arrive are visiting a legal shop for the first time.
“The only thing that being first does for us is challenge us even harder to set the bar,” Parker said.
The outpouring of customers—lines stretched for hours on opening day—has also prompted discussions on traffic management, improving road infrastructure and how legal marijuana might be integrated into the Qualla Boundary’s established tourism economy.
For now, Great Smoky and the tribal cannabis company, Qualla Enterprises LLC, aren’t sharing financial or other details from opening week, Parker said. He also declined to comment directly on a local report from News 13 last week that the business is planning a consumption lounge.
“We’ve explored a lot of different opportunities,” Parker told Marijuana Moment, and a social consumption setting “has been part of that discussion.”
“The real answer,” he added, “is, ‘Does it fit what our customers need?’”
Currently there’s no ideal place for visitors to use marijuana. Once removed from the Qualla Boundary itself, the cannabis is illegal, and consumption on the premises at Great Smoky is forbidden. Fines for public consumption begin at $1,000, but some businesses have reportedly said there aren’t enough police to enforce the ban on public use.
For now, News 13 also reports that marijuana is prohibited at the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and that if local hotels catch customers consuming cannabis on their property, they’ll fine them.
Asked about how interactions have gone with neighboring local law enforcement outside the Qualla Boundary, Parker declined to discuss details but said generally that he feels the tensions between the tribe and surrounding authorities have been overblown.
“I think a lot of the buzz around the potential—for lack of a better term—threat of law enforcement was really more media-based than it was actual,” he said. “That’s just my personal opinion.”
While law enforcement in surrounding North Carolina jurisdictions have “made it very clear” that “everybody’s got a job to do,” Parker explained, he also described the relationship as “collaborative,” noting that “we have had virtually all law enforcement locally and regionally represented on our properties throughout the last two years.”
He acknowledged the reality of pressure from prohibitionists such as U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC)—who led the introduction of the Stop Pot Act, which would “defund governments that ignore federal law”—but said few who visit or work at Great Smoky Cannabis Company have been discussing the political pushback.
Asked whether he heard any concerns about blowback during opening week, Parker replied, “No, not at all. Everyone’s talking about being a part of history.”
Marijuana legalization on the Qualla Boundary is expected to eventually bring in millions of dollars in revenue for EBCI. Parker at 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.”
Parker was happy to discuss excited customers and the store’s close to 350 unique products during the interview with Marijuana Moment last week. But he also emphasized: “We’re not just doing this for profitability.”
“The part that I can’t show people, that you can’t express enough to people, is what cannabis is doing to our community—even outside of revenue or the ever-so-special plant medicine,” he said. “In a rural community such as this, that execution of sovereignty has given a future. It’s given hope. It’s given a place and a sense of purpose to a group of people.”
On the Qualla Boundary, he said, the project has brought together tribal elders and younger leaders, offered opportunities to workers looking to build careers and helped foster a sense of pride in providing for the community. More than 90 percent of employees, he noted, are tribal members.
“We’re doing it for the people that we come from,” Parker said of the new venture, “and the people that matter the most to us.”
Rob Pero, founder of the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association (ICIA), recently told Marijuana Moment 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.
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.
Pero said EBCI’s willingness to navigate the process 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.”
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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co., in Cherokee, North Carolina, thousands from across the region have now made purchases at what’s currently the only regulated cannabis retailer within hundreds of square miles. Marijuana remains outlawed for all purposes in North Carolina, and Read More