Cherokee’s recently created medical cannabis LLC will likely have $63 million at its disposal as it prepares for its first year of retail sales, thanks to a vote from Tribal Council Thursday, Dec. 8. The body also acted to set pay rates for the board of managers at Qualla Enterprises LLC and fill two vacant board seats.

Tribal Council voted last week to spend $15 million for the tribal government to acquire 95 acres of trust land for housing and cannabis production.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will establish a medical marijuana program on tribal lands even as the drug remains illegal in the state of North Carolina, following a divided vote on Thursday, Aug. 5. 

Now that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has decided to move forward with a medical cannabis initiative, the rest of North Carolina looks to the General Assembly to see if it will follow suit. 

The Cherokee Tribal Council today approved a 42-page ordinance that will establish a system to support legalized medical marijuana on the Qualla Boundary.

Like many of the most resilient and creative people on this earth, the river of Marissa Schneider’s life has meandered through the unexpected twists and turns of trauma. Somewhere along that ride though, she found cannabis. As she moved through trauma, and the painful healing that comes after, the plant became a tool. A tool used not only to help her own soul in the process of mending, but also to help others. For Schneider, cooking with cannabis is about bringing people together. It is about healing her soul, and those of the other bodies she meets along her way. 

In a pair of actions taken during Tribal Council on Thursday, May 6, Tribal Council voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and to stop testing Housing Improvement Program residents and applicants for the drug. 

Tribal Council voted unanimously April 1 to table an ordinance aiming to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. However, discussion preceding the vote indicates that some version of that ordinance will likely pass in the future. 

Legislation creating a Cannabis Commission that would set the stage for hemp production on the Qualla Boundary has been overturned, following a veto from Principal Chief Richard Sneed and a failed attempt from Tribal Council to override that veto. 

UPDATE: Principal Chief Richard Sneed vetoed this resolution on Oct. 2, after The Smoky Mountain News' press time. Tribal Council will hold a special session at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 4, to  hold a vote on whether to uphold or override the veto.

At its last meeting Sept. 12, Tribal Council voted to create the Cannabis Commission, a body that will work to get the tribe into the hemp business.