North Carolina Will Get Its First Cannabis Dispensary in April
It was only a matter of time. Qualla Enterprises, LLC, part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is set to open the first cannabis dispensary in North Carolina.
The slated location is Cherokee, NC is set to open on April 20 of this year – of course – and it has created quite a stir. According to Cherokee One Nation: “The dispensary has received more than 1,400 job applications. The number of jobs available will depend on whether the dispensary operates as a medical or adult-use facility. Griffin stated that a medical facility would need about 78 staff, while an adult facility would need over 350.”
The logistics for which of those could work haven’t been fully figured out yet, but the Tribe said some ordinances would have to be changed in order to make the facility work for adult use.
“We’ve got two models that we’ve been going through – a medical and an adult model,” Lee Griffin of Qualla Enterprises said. “Right now, we’ve been really conservative as far as the medical model. We’re looking at about 78 positions. That’s 23 different job titles.”
The facility can open with the smaller staff if that approval doesn’t happen, but they are hoping for the best. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation approved a referendum in 2023 that allowed for legalized possession of cannabis on North Carolina tribal land.