Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians votes to legalize adult-use cannabis and opens the first legal dispensary inside North Carolina

On April 20, 2024—following a historic September 7, 2023 tribal voter referendum that passed with 70% Yes (2,464 to 1,057)—the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) opened the Great Smoky Cannabis Company on the tribe’s sovereign 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. Surrounded by states where recreational cannabis remains illegal under state law, the sovereign tribal dispensary launched medical sales on April 20, 2024 and opened full adult-use recreational sales to any adult aged 21 and older on September 7, 2024.

How sovereign tribal legalization works in a prohibition state

• Federal tribal policy (The Wilkinson Memo): Building on a December 2014 Department of Justice policy memorandum (the Wilkinson Memo) affirming that sovereign Native American tribes have the same authority as states to regulate cannabis on tribal trust lands, tribes in Washington (the Squaxin Island Tribe in 2015), Nevada, New York, and Minnesota had previously opened tribal dispensaries.
• An oasis in the Southeast: What made the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ vote unprecedented in the Southeast was that North Carolina itself has neither adult-use nor comprehensive medical cannabis laws. While cannabis purchased at the Cherokee dispensary is completely legal to possess and consume on the Qualla Boundary, visitors are warned that carrying cannabis across the boundary line onto North Carolina state highways subjects them to North Carolina state law.