CHEROKEE, North Carolina– Medical marijuana can now be purchased legally in North Carolina, with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opening its long-planned dispensary this weekend on tribal lands.
Hundreds of people, many with approved medical patient cards to purchase items, celebrated the historic grand opening of Great Smoky Cannabis Co. on Saturday in the Eastern Range region known as the Qualla Boundary, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported. Saturday was April 20, also known as “420 Day,” or an annual day for celebrating marijuana.
The ceremony marks the latest liberalization of marijuana rules by the tribe, which in 2021 decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana on its 231 square miles of land in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The tribe also formed a medical marijuana system that included a business created by the tribe to grow cannabis and sell it, reaping financial rewards for tribal members and helping those with health problems.
“This project will forever change the trajectory of their lives,” said Forrest Parker, general manager of Qualla Enterprises, the tribal company that runs the dispensary, during the opening ceremony. “It will be a conduit for generations of social, economic and spiritual growth unlike anything ever witnessed.”
The Eastern Band, with about 14,000 members, could pass rules allowing cannabis as a sovereign nation and federally recognized tribe. Marijuana use remains illegal in the rest of North Carolina. Still, Republican U.S. Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd have raised concerns with federal and state authorities about whether drug laws will continue to be enforced in light of the dispensary. A state medical marijuana bill has been considered in recent years by the North Carolina General Assembly.
Adults at least 21 years of age with a tribal medical cannabis patient card or an approved out-of-state medical marijuana card may purchase items at Great Smoky Cannabis Co.
The scope of marijuana sales could become much larger. A majority of Eastern Range voters supported adult and recreational use of marijuana on tribal lands in a referendum last September. The question also asked whether voters supported the tribal council in developing legislation to regulate such a market.
The Charlotte Observer reported that an adult-use ordinance could be finalized in June, citing council member Boyd Owle.
“Let’s get it right before we release it. But we’re on the right track,” Owle said after a council work session on the ordinance earlier this month.
The dispensary could generate more than $200 million in gross sales revenue in its first year if it is limited to medical patients, compared to $385 million if the product is available to all adult users, according to data from Qualla Enterprises released before last year’s adult use referendum.
Saturday’s ceremony featured tribal translator Myrtle Driver Johnson purchasing the first medical marijuana in a transaction made in English and Cherokee. She said she named and translated the different cannabis strains into Cherokee.
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