Marijuana legalization wins broad support in historic vote by NC Cherokee tribe

In a historic vote on Thursday, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina appeared to have solidly approved adult use of marijuana on tribal land, uncertified election results showed.

As of 8:30 p.m., according to unofficial results reported by EBCI’s election board, “yes” votes were far ahead on the cannabis referendum.

Go inside North Carolina’s only marijuana dispensary as its doors open for first time

Cherokee vote

On the question of whether to make legal recreational use of marijuana, early results showed 2,464 votes in favor, and 1,057 against.

EBCI’s reporting of the results late Thursday did not include whether officials have completed tallying ballots.

As approved, the referendum legalizes possession and use of cannabis by anyone 21 and older. Tribal lands, home to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, are an important cultural and tourism destination in the Great Smoky Mountains.

An EBCI referendum to allow controlled liquor sales in places like restaurants also had broad support, unofficial results showed. The vote was 2389 to 1113 in favor of the Tribal ABC Commission issuing mixed beverage permits to restaurants, hotels, convention centers and non-profit organizations for sales on tribal lands.

The Sept. 7 general election also decides Tribal Council seats, with members from each Cherokee township, and Principal Chief.

Similar to municipal elections in North Carolina, EBCI’s election results require certification by Board of Elections officials. Additionally, Cherokee ordinances require a minimum of 30% of registered voters to have cast a ballot in order for a referendum outcome to be certified.

The referendums were held during the tribal general election in which voters booted Principal Chief Richard Sneed from office.

Sneed lost to former Principal Chief Mitchell Hicks by a vote of 2254 to 1212, according to unofficial returns.

Marijuana vote in Cherokee, North Carolina

The tribe on the Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina had already approved use and controlled sale of medical cannabis.

The referendum also requires the tribal council to develop legislation to regulate the market.

Voters interviewed by The Charlotte Observer outside businesses on the tribe’s 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary Thursday all said they supported the cannabis referendum.

“Some people take it as a bad thing, and I can understand where they’re coming from,” said Tristin Bottchenbaugh, a 23-year-old barista at Qualla Java Cafe. “But at the same time, I’d rather us smoke than drink.”

Allowing alcohol sales brought lots of visitors who drank and became angry, he said.

Cannabis involves fewer health and other issues than alcohol, he said. He intended to vote in favor of the cannabis referendum after work.

The tribe has grown and cultivated $30 million of cannabis on a farm on Goose Creek Road on the Qualla Boundary, Forrest Parker, general manager of Qualla Enterprises LLC, told The Charlotte Observer at an open house for the tribe’s new cannabis dispensary superstore Wednesday. Qualla Enterprises is the tribe’s for-profit cannabis subsidiary.

Called Great Smoky Cannabis Company, the dispensary is near Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, 46 miles west of Asheville in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Adult use sales could generate $385 million in the first year of the dispensary, which is expected to sell product by December that’s being produced on the farm by tribal workers, officials said.

Tribal workers produced their first batch of cannabis extraction late Wednesday that will be used in various products at the dispensary.

EBCI originally planned to issue regulated medical cards to eligible adults to buy from the dispensary. The retail operation is the first and only place to legally purchase marijuana in North Carolina.

Even with Thursday’s vote, some people needing higher-potency cannabis for their medical conditions will need to get a medical card from the EBCI Cannabis Control Board formed by the tribe, officials told Charlotte Observer reporters at the open house.

Anatta Watts and her partner, Michael James Youngdeer also supported the measure.

She’s a first-descendant Cherokee whose blood quantum is just under what would qualify her as a member, she said. But she would have voted yes if she could have, just as Youngdeer “enthusiastically” did, she said.

Watts’ father was an enrolled member and she lived in Cherokee as a girl before living in Vancouver, British Columbia, for many years.

She saw the medical benefits to people when cannabis was legalized in Canada, she said.

And decriminalizing cannabis for recreational use undercut the illegal market and both petty and serious crime and the money supporting that, she said.

“One of the great legacies of the Eastern Cherokee Nation is leadership, being able to set precedents, being very adaptive and very strategic and visionary. And I think this is another example of that.”