Tribal members in Cherokee can legally buy recreational marijuana, and it’s giving some residents hope for marijuana legalization in the state in the future.
Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians backed the adult use of marijuana on their tribal land in an overwhelming vote in September and the legal purchase of medical marijuana in April. The sale is only for tribal members and must only be used in the Qualla boundary.
Bill Devine, a Cherokee resident, said he’s already using marijuana for medicinal purposes and is taking note of how recreational marijuana sales are taking place at Cherokee’s Great Smokey Cannabis Company, a dispensary opened in April.
“My concern was what’s going to happen if the people needed the medical stuff,” he said. “Are they going to have enough supply?”
Devine expects the dispensary to get busier with recreational sales legal in Cherokee, a sovereign nation, and wonder’s if people will take it elsewhere.
“How many people are coming from all over to buy it here to where it’s not legal?” he asked.
While it is legal within Cherokee, North Carolina bans the use of marijuana for medical and recreational use, and sheriffs in neighboring counties are keeping an eye on anyone trying to use it outside of Cherokee.
“We’ll educate them,” Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran said. “If we catch them with it, we’ll charge them for it.”
While it is still illegal in North Carolina, Sue Cunniff from Jackson County says she could see the legalization of marijuana spread through the state.
“I support it, I don’t have any objections,” she said. “I think that it’s going in that direction, anyway.”
Devine says Cherokee is taking the lead on marijuana in North Carolina.
“We got different people up in Raleigh, some saying yes, some saying no. People are going to have their beliefs about that. But we’ve come a long way since 1960,” Devine said.
Lawmakers in North Carolina have attempted to pass legislation legalizing medicinal marijuana but nearly every attempt has failed. Most recently, the state Senate passed a medical marijuana legalization bill with broad bipartisan support.
The Senate also approved a key change to the bill at the end of June: Banning marijuana from being allowed for recreational use in North Carolina in the future, even if the federal government were to legalize marijuana nationwide.
Despite support in the Senate, the House refused to vote on it, with House Speaker Tim Moore saying the bill did not receive enough support from House Republicans.
Representative Mark Pless, R-Canton, is one of the House Republicans opposed to the idea of marijuana legalization of any kind.
“It helps me to be able to stand where I’m at because this is where North Carolina will go. If we allow it to be medicinal, it will become recreational very quickly,” he said.
H/T: www.wral.com
