Actor Jim Belushi, fourth from left, attends the grand opening of the Belushi Farms marijuana dispensary on the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal territory in Franklin County on Oct. 27. From left, Tribal Chief Ron LaFrance, Tribal Chief Michael Conners, Zachary Oakes (owner), Jim Belushi, Akwesasne General Manager Taryn Thompson, Sub-Chief Benjamin Herne, Sub-Chief Agnes “Sweets” Jacobs, Belushi’s Farm General Manager Chris Karakosta, and Sub-Chief Derrick King. (Photo courtesy Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council).
Hogansburg, N. Y. — A company owned by actor and comedian Jim Belushi has been awarded the latest license to operate a dispensary selling recreational marijuana on Northern New York’s Saint Regis (Akwesasne) Mohawk Tribe territory.
Belushi, a star of television and film, and the younger brother of the late actor John Belushi, was on hand last week for the ribbon-cutting of the shop on State Route 37 near the U.S.-Canadian border in Franklin County, according to a news release from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council.
The license went to a franchise of Belushi Farms, a cannabis producer Jim Belushi started in Oregon in 2015. The local franchise is majority owned by Saint Regis tribal member Zach Oakes. Fees collected from that and other licensed dispensaries on the Mohawk territory will support tribal programs and services, the council said.
Belushi Farms also has locations in Colorado, Oklahoma, Illinois and Massachusetts.
The Saint Regis Tribal Council began awarding licenses for marijuana dispensaries in December 2021. That puts the Mohawks, along with other sovereign Indian nations in New York, well ahead of the state’s own licensing for legal marijuana retailers.
The Indian nation dispensaries are the only legal retailers of recreational marijuana to operate since the state legalized possession of weed for those over 21 in April 2021. The state has indicated it expects to license a limited number of dispensaries by the end of the year.
Here’s the current status of Indian nation marijuana businesses in Upstate New York:
· There are now a dozen licensed dispensaries on the Akwesasne Mohawk territory near Hogansburg, a tribal spokesman said. The Mohawks began licensing shops after several unauthorized businesses opened earlier in 2021.
· The Cayuga Nation has a recreational dispensary at its Lakeside Trading post in Union Springs in Cayuga County and another south of Seneca Falls in Seneca County. It also operates a growing/processing facility in Seneca County.
· There are about 20 retail outlets in Seneca Nation of Indians territory in Western New York.
· In September, the Oneida Indian Nation announced plans to launch a “seed to sale” marijuana business that is expected to open retail outlets in 2023. The Oneidas plan to grow and process marijuana in a new 50,000-square-foot facility to be built on Hill Road in Verona and sell it at shops on its lands in Oneida and Madison counties next year.
· The Onondaga Nation, whose territory is just south of Syracuse, has so far given no indication it plans to enter the marijuana business.
Jim Belushi followed his brother as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” appeared on “Twin Peaks” and was the star of the TV series “According to Jim.” He’s also appeared in movies such as “Trading Places” and “Only the Lonely.”
His Oregon cannabis farm has been featured in a Discovery Channel series called “Growing Belushi.”
H/T: www.syracuse.com
