Second cannabis dispensary opens on tribal land in Minnesota

A second recreational cannabis dispensary has opened on tribal land in Minnesota.

Waabigwan Mashkiki, a dispensary in Mahnomen in northwest Minnesota, began selling recreational marijuana Thursday. It is owned and operated by White Earth Nation.

The White Earth dispensary opened on Monday to medicinal cannabis patients and then on Thursday to anyone 21 and older.

"Our teams have been working diligently to prepare for this launch, and we're excited to provide a safe and controlled environment for cannabis access," the White Earth Reservation Business Committee said in a statement. "This endeavor aligns with our tribal sovereignty and self-determination."

Among the products advertised on the dispensary website are cannabis flower and prerolled joints, and the site also references edibles and vape cartridges. A mobile app will be available soon, the site says.

The state's first recreational cannabis dispensary opened Tuesday at Red Lake Nation's NativeCare, about an hour and a half drive northeast of the Mahnomen dispensary.

A line of more than 100 exuberant customers waited outside the Red Lake dispensary before it opened Tuesday, with the tribe's radio station broadcasting live and fireworks marking the first sale.

Tuesday was the first day Minnesotans could legally possess or grow the plant, making it the 23rd state to legalize cannabis use for people 21 and older.

But the sale of recreational cannabis remains restricted on non-native land as the state works to open the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management and start a licensing system. That process is expected to last until 2025.

The opening of the White Earth dispensary did not come without drama.

Law enforcement raided a tobacco store in Mahnomen on Wednesday for selling cannabis without a license.

A message with Merlin Deegan, White Earth Nation's public safety director, was not immediately returned Friday, and nobody answered phone calls at the tobacco store in question, Asema Tobacco & Pipe Shop. The store had posted photographs advertising cannabis buds earlier this week on its Facebook page.

"While adult-use cannabis has been decriminalized, it is still an area that is heavily regulated by both the State and the Band," the White Earth Reservation Business Committee wrote in a Facebook post. "No person or entity can produce or sell cannabis within the White Earth Reservation without a license issued by the White Earth Medicinal Cannabis Control Commission."

The commission "will seize and destroy any illegal cannabis within the exterior boundaries of the White Earth Reservation," the post noted.

The White Earth Reservation Business Committee had approved a $6 million loan in 2021 to build Waabigwan Mashkiki as a medical cannabis cultivation facility and medical cannabis dispensary, but with recreational marijuana now legal in Minnesota, its mission expanded.