Indigenous

Cherokee medical cannabis company Qualla Enterprises LLC will receive $63 million to increase staffing and build new facilities following a recent Tribal Council vote.

Actor Jim Belushi’s cannabis company, Belushi’s Farm, has opened a new license partner location on Saint Regis (Akwesasne) Mohawk Tribe territory in upstate New York.

Members of the Crow Tribe are looking to open the first cannabis dispensary on tribal land in Montana but approval has been delayed by the tribe and Big Horn County. 

A recent letter by the director of Montana’s Department of Revenue revealed that tribes in the state are restricted to the lowest tier of cannabis cultivation license.

The Pojoaque and Picuris tribes in New Mexico signed an agreement with the state last week to collect taxes on local cannabis product sales.

Cannabis retailers in British Columbia, Canada are suing the province’s attorney general, minister of public safety, and Community Safety Unit over unlicensed cannabis sales on First Nation lands.

Chenae Bullock is Managing Director of Little Beach Harvest, a vertically integrated cannabis operation by the Shinnecock Indian Nation in New York in partnership with TILT Holdings Inc.

South Dakota law enforcement officials are arresting medical cannabis cardholders issued by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, arguing that the cards are invalid for non-tribal members.

Researchers at Washington State University and several partnering West Coast universities have received a five-year, $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to study hemp and its agricultural benefits.

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe of New York awarded its first cannabis industry conditional cultivation licenses.

Tribes in Montana will be allowed to acquire licenses for high-capacity cannabis cultivation facilities; previously, tribes could only acquire the smallest-capacity grow licenses.

Indigenous and Native American tribes have stewarded the land in North America for countless generations. Today, Indigenous-owned cannabis and hemp brands are thriving in the industry despite regulatory obstacles including licensing issues, local restrictions, and more.

The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians filed an application with Sonoma County, California officials to grow nearly 1,000 cannabis plants outdoors on land in Petaluma that it had previously considered for a casino.

The adult-use cannabis ordinance approved by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Tribal Council took effect yesterday, allowing the tribes to regulate the commercial cultivation, processing, and distribution of cannabis.

TILT Holdings is partnering with Long Island, New York’s Shinnecock Indian Nation to establish vertical cannabis operations on their tribal territory in the Hamptons.

Little Priest Tribal College is partnering with Doane University to offer seven online cannabis courses that will be part of the new Cannabis Studies associate degree program.

The Paiute Tribe of Utah is considering medical cannabis operations and held a private meeting with Republican Gov. Spencer Cox to determine how the state and tribes could work together.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is the first location in North Carolina to legalize the production and sale of medical cannabis after passing an ordinance last week.

The Tribal Council for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina approved the legalization of medical cannabis and the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis by adults aged 21 or older.

At least two New York Native American tribes — the Shinnecock Indian Nation and the Saint Regis Mohawks — are eyeing the state’s cannabis industry now that adult-use reforms have been approved.

The Crow Tribe in Montana approved a cannabis cultivation and sales ordinance last week. Montana voters approved adult-use legalization last year but progress has languished so far under elected state officials.

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York has agreed to lease about 20 acres of tribal land to MMJ BioPharma Cultivation Inc. to grow cannabis that will be sold to researchers.

About 260,000 plants were destroyed and 30 tons of evidence confiscated last week during a police raid on a hemp farm accused of growing illicit cannabis on Navajo Nation land.

The FBI joined Navajo Nation Police and over a dozen other law enforcement agencies in a raid on the hemp operation owned by Dineh Benally. The raid is part of a unified investigation into reports of illegal cannabis cultivation, drug trafficking, and labor law violations.