How the Cherokee can open a marijuana superstore when pot is illegal in North Carolina

On April 20, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians plans to open the only dispensary in the state where you can legally buy marijuana, although weed is still illegal in North Carolina.

Here’s what to know about the tribe’s cannabis superstore:

How can the tribe sell what’s illegal in NC?

Anyone who possesses, sells or cultivates marijuana in North Carolina can be found guilty of violating state law, so how is the Cherokee marijuana operation legal?

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a sovereign nation with its own set of laws.

An elected tribal council votes to enact laws much like elected governing boards in the U.S.

With adult-use marijuana, the tribal council let EBCI members decide the issue in a referendum — much like the school bond and liquor-by-the-drink referendums set by state, county and municipal governments in the U.S.

In a referendum on Sept. 7, 2023, tribal members overwhelmingly approved adult use of marijuana on tribal land. The tribe on the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary in Western N.C. had already approved the use and controlled sale of medical cannabis.

The tribe also established an EBCI Cannabis Control Board, with a purpose similar to the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission: To regulate and control the industry.

Who can buy cannabis at the dispensary?

Anyone 21 and older, including North Carolina residents, tribal officials said.

Can I take marijuana home from Cherokee lands?

Unless you want to break the law, no.

That’s because cannabis is still illegal under North Carolina and federal law.

Can I be arrested?

Sure you can — if you take products you buy at the dispensary into North Carolina, according to N.C. law.

Will law enforcement stop people leaving the boundary?

But will law enforcement stop everyone returning to NC after leaving the Qualla Boundary?

Through a spokesman, Sheriff Bill Wilke in neighboring Haywood County told the Observer last year that his office has no special enforcement plan that would target drivers leaving the Qualla Boundary with marijuana.

“And nothing has changed in terms of how we respond to the sale and distribution of illegal drugs of any kind at the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office,” Wilke said in an email.

Haywood County includes the towns of Waynesville, Canton, Maggie Valley and Clyde.

Sheriff Curtis Cochran in neighboring Swain County has been publicly mum on the question.

Part of the road outside the Cherokee grow operation lies in the county.

A manager at the grow operation told visiting reporters from The Charlotte Observer last year that Swain County deputies, months earlier, conducted a license check stop at the grow operation entrance without explaining why to the Cherokee.

Cochran didn’t reply to multiple phone messages from the Observer.

He told the Smoky Mountain News last year that marijuana on North Carolina roads remains illegal, but didn’t say if his deputies would stop trucks hauling marijuana from the grow operation or stop buyers leaving the dispensary six miles away.

North Carolina’s U.S. senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, raised similar questions in a recent letter to eight top federal, state and county law enforcement officials.

Will marijuana laws be enforced if the cannabis is driven on a state road from the tribe’s grow operation to the dispensary? the senators asked.

And, they asked, “at what point is the transportation of marijuana considered trafficking? Are federally recognized tribes immune from state and federal enforcement?”

Can I smoke pot while driving on tribal roads?

Best to keep whatever pot you buy unopened in your trunk, just like with cans and bottles of alcohol, tribal prosecutor Cody White said during a Feb. 28 tribal council work session.

If tribal police spot a smoke-filled car or someone toking a joint while driving, that’s reason enough to pull a car over, he said.

That’s similar to stopping a driver who has an open container of alcohol in the car, he said.

“We still have marijuana-prohibited conduct (laws),” White said.

No marijuana test exists like a Breathalyzer that determines a driver’s blood/alcohol content, White said. So officers would rely on slurred speech and other factors in charging a driver, he said.

What’s the latest on legalization in NC?

On Feb. 14, N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger expressed interest in reexamining a medical marijuana bill but said the “ball is in the House’s court,” The News & Observer reported.

“I am hopeful that we will see the House take that bill up,” Berger said. “I think the votes are there to pass it. I think it’s pretty clear from every survey that I’ve seen of the voters in the state of North Carolina that (it) enjoys the support of well over 60 to 70% of the population.”

With bipartisan support during the last legislative session, the Senate approved a medical marijuana bill that would have allowed medical marijuana use statewide for people with certain health ailments, according to the N&O. The House essentially killed the bill by not voting on it. When it might is unknown.

What else is legal on Cherokee land that’s illegal in NC?

Casinos. They’re legal only on Cherokee and Catawba tribal lands in the western part of the state.

Legislative efforts to legalize casinos in North Carolina remain stalled, The News & Observer reported last month.

Sports betting has been legal on tribal land in North Carolina since 2021. It will be legal across the state beginning Monday, just in time for March Madness.

Where is the planned Cherokee dispensary?

The dispensary is in the tribe’s refurbished old bingo hall along U.S. 19 near Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, 46 miles west of Asheville in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Great Smoky Cannabis Co. is the name of the dispensary. Qualla Enterprises LLC, the tribe’s cannabis subsidiary, will operate it.

NC Reality Check reflects the Charlotte Observer’s commitment to holding those in power to account, shining a light on public issues that affect our local readers and illuminating the stories that set the Charlotte area and North Carolina apart. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@charlotteobserver.com