Members of a Native American tribe in North Carolina voted on Thursday to legalize recreational marijuana in their territory.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians voted nearly 2:1 in favor of legalizing the possession and use of cannabis by people age 21 or older. Over 2,400 members backed the measure, according to Blue Ridge Public Radio, making the area the first area in the state where marijuana is legal for recreational use.
Despite federal and North Carolina state law still prohibiting the substance, the Cherokee tribe is a federally recognized sovereign nation, allowing leadership to pass the measure without regard to other regulations.
The tribe legalized medical marijuana in 2021, but EBCI Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Joey Owle told BRPR that he has been pushing for full legalization since 2015.
“[From] the support that folks were expressing both privately and publicly, I think we saw this coming,” he said. “For us, as the EBCI, as a sovereign nation, we are going to move forward with the results of tonight with an adult use program, and really the way that I see it is that we are putting an issue to bed."
The News and Observer reports that the Cherokee tribe has grown and cultivated $30 million worth of cannabis since shifting away from hemp. A 2017 pilot program to grow hemp allowed the Eastern Band to grow the crop before it was legalized federally in 2018. After the market became over-saturated with CBD products, the tribe pivoted to cannabis.
Owle noted that the next step is to craft a recreational use law, which will ideally allow for recreational sales to happen within 9 to 18 months.
“Things will progress forward and we'll see how businesses are able to take advantage of it with what the tribe brings forth with the opportunity," he continued. "But comparing it to other states and other countries that have done it, I think it's been well received. There's been obvious economic benefit from the taxation of it, and we'll probably see something similar."
