Great Smoky Cannabis Company is the first recreational dispensary in national history to open on tribal land in a state where it is currently illegal.
Written and Photographed by Thomas Moody-Jones
Graphics by Casey Griffith
Video by Max Feliu
Audio by Julia Thompson
Qualla Boundary, N.C. – When Great Smoky Cannabis Company opened its doors Sept. 7 to begin selling recreational cannabis for the first time, soon-to-be customers stood in a long line, wrapping through the store’s parking lot and down the block. Meanwhile, employees tried to direct cars in the drive-thru lane, until the traffic built up so much that the police began to help. From across North Carolina and beyond, roughly 4,000 people had driven in that weekend for the state’s first regulated sale of recreational cannabis.
In 2022, North Carolina made 12,814 arrests for marijuana possession or sales. While cannabis is decriminalized – meaning that penalties for possessing small amounts have been reduced to a misdemeanor offense – the state has yet to legalize medical or recreational cannabis, except in very limited cases involving patients with an “intractable form of epilepsy.”
Great Smoky Cannabis Company is the first recreational dispensary in national history to open on tribal land in a state where it is currently illegal. The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians is a sovereign nation, meaning that with a few exceptions, they have the same powers as federal and state governments to regulate their internal affairs. On TV screens and sprawled across the back of employees’ T-shirts, “We made history” was written in big bold letters.
Kaytie Johnson, a customer from Bryson City, North Carolina, expected the opening-day crowd to be larger. With a smile, Johnson said that cannabis “brings everyone together. It’s always a fun thing when cannabis is involved. Everybody’s always happy and giddy, and it just makes them feel all good.”
Josh Fry, from Durham, North Carolina, drove four hours with $500 in hopes of buying “Sugar Skunk,” a cannabis sativa/indica hybrid. Fry, who said he’s been smoking since he was eight years old, said, “I want to check out what recreational they have to offer; you know, is it going to be good, or is it going to be what I normally get?”
Exactly one year before the dispensary opened to recreational sales, Eastern Band voters approved a referendum allowing adult cannabis sales on Tribal lands. A few days before this vote, Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents Western North Carolina, introduced “The Stop Pot Act,” which would withhold 10% of federal highway funds from state and tribal governments that legalize recreational cannabis. Edwards cited the referendum in the act’s background.
Federally, cannabis is still illegal; but in recent years, many state legislatures have passed laws legalizing cannabis. According to the Pew Research Center, as of May 17, 2024, 24 states have legalized recreational use, and 38 states allow medical use. As of May 20, there are 57 tribally-owned medical cannabis dispensaries and adult-use stores in nine states, according to an article published in MJBizDaily.
“A lot of Indian tribes are doing it,” said Boyd Owle, a member of the Eastern Band’s tribal council. “They haven’t bothered them. So we figured they wouldn’t bother us.”
When Great Smoky Cannabis Company began medical sales on April 20, 2024, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch, made a statement saying she would continue to “enforce state law.” On August 30, Quintin Ellison, a prosecutorial District 43 spokesperson, told the Citizen-Times that the statement stands “as is.”
“We had some pushback from some state leaders,” Owle said. “But, you know, we can do what we want to do as long as it’s – you know, we’re sovereign.”
The Qualla Boundary, where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located, is only a few hours from the borders of Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina – where cannabis is almost entirely illegal. But Great Smoky customers from any state can buy recreational cannabis regardless of whether it’s legal where they live.
Customer Joshua Tedesco, who is originally from Florida but currently lives in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, said cannabis helped him when he was taken off prescription medications for ADHD, anxiety and depression.
“They legalized prescription marijuana in Florida and it changed my life. Like, I’m not on any medications right now, but where I’m at, I have to buy it illegally, or order it online and keep up with my Florida license.”
Tedesco said that the heavy prevalence of fentanyl makes him concerned about the safety of others in Gatlinburg and keeps him from buying outside of the dealer he trusts.
“Once I found that one dealer, I keep with that one dealer – I will not stray. I will keep with that, and often, that is very difficult, because I won’t have no medication, literally.”
Forrest Parker is the Executive Director of Qualla Enterprises LLC, which owns Great Smoky Cannabis Company. He said that North Carolina has the second-highest estimated black market for cannabis in 2022, just behind Texas, a state with nearly triple the population.
“That means that it’s obviously largely all untested, unregulated. You don’t know what it is. And so we’re very proud to pioneer the type and quality of products that set the bar for that, that you can trust that consumers learn to believe in.”
Great Smoky Cannabis said all of its products are independently tested by Kaycha Labs, a national testing corporation, which has set up its only North Carolina lab on the Qualla Boundary. Great Smoky sources its cannabis from a farm nearby, where an estimated 140,000 plants grow in rounded white greenhouses.
A 2018 study by the University of California at Irvine found that when states legalized both medical and recreational cannabis, they saw a 27.2% reduction in opioid overdoses. But others worry that the legalization of cannabis could increase DUIs and deaths related to intoxicated driving. A study done by the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health found a substantial increase in crash fatalities and that, on average, recreational cannabis markets were associated with a 10% increase in motor vehicle accident deaths.
In the United States, the most common use of medical cannabis is for pain management. While not strong enough to treat severe pain, cannabis is effective at treating the chronic pain that plagues millions of Americans. Outside of pain relief, cannabis has been used as a muscle and tremor relaxant in patients with Parkinson’s disease. It’s been documented as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, glaucoma, migraines, anorexia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Additionally, it’s been found effective in managing weight loss and nausea and prevents side effects of certain cancer treatments.
Michelle Tahquette, a BudTender at Great Smoky, uses Rick Simpson Oil, a form of cannabis oil, daily to help her recover from a severe head trauma.
“That stuff helps so many people,” she said.
There are some documented side effects of cannabis usage. In the long term, cannabis has been linked to negative effects on attention, learning and memory in teens and young adults with heavy usage; frequent, severe vomiting in heavy usage; an increased risk of schizophrenia in people already at risk; lung problems from smoking; and addiction – roughly 10% of people who begin smoking cannabis will become addicted, according to Yale Medicine. Still, research shows that cannabis is less addictive than many prescription painkillers, tobacco and alcohol, and unlike many other substances, cannabis overdoses are not fatal.
“The polls show about 90% of voters believe that marijuana has legitimate medical utility, about 65 almost 70% of practicing physicians say that they believe medical marijuana has medical utility,” said Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “At this point – it’s a flat earth attitude – we know states can successfully regulate medical cannabis. You know how we know that? Because 38 states regulate medical cannabis, beginning with California in 1996 almost 30 years ago.”
Luke Niforatos, the aforementioned Executive Vice President of SAM, disagrees.
“I’m sure that a majority of North Carolinians support medical cannabis legalization, conceptually, because that’s a fairly popular trend, but it’s definitely not at 90%, and if you educate them on what it actually means, the issues and the outcomes support falls dramatically.”
Medical cannabis has not yet been approved by the FDA, meaning that doctors cannot technically write medical cannabis prescriptions. Niforatos said that states use medical cannabis cards to preserve the “integrity” of medicinal marijuana.
“It’s, quite frankly, a mockery of medicine,” he said. “ It’s a disgrace. It just says, you know, hey, I think marijuana might help you.”
North Carolina is currently considering the “Compassionate Care Act,” which would legalize medical cannabis. On June 25, in a 36-10 vote, the bill passed in the State’s Senate, but it has yet to pass in the House.
The Compassionate Care Act estimates that North Carolina could make $15.1 million in the next fiscal year if medical cannabis is legalized, jumping to $44.4 million in 2028. This would mostly come from patient and caregiver card application fees, with the state also getting 10% of the gross revenue. The state could make even more than if it legalized recreational cannabis; in 2022, Colorado collected more than $325 million in cannabis tax revenue. Great Smoky Cannabis Company declined to share any information regarding its profits.
North Carolina is not currently considering legalizing cannabis recreationally, but many hope the Eastern Band’s example will influence state legislators. Savannah Jack, a customer from Asheville, said she hopes the success of Great Smoky Cannabis will encourage lawmakers to peel back regulations and “see what it does to a community because I think this region really needs it.”
Great Smoky’s status as the state’s first recreational cannabis location will undoubtedly have effects on the region, but time will only tell if it leads to legalization in North Carolina and other states. Parker, the store’s manager, hopes that the Eastern Band will serve as an example. For now though, he’s just proud to be a part of history.
“There’s a lot of learning that can be done from Cherokee and a lot of things that can be mimicked here that will work at a high level in a state system…It’s really amazing to be a part of that historical movement, to be a part of a tribe that had the confidence, the wherewithal and the foresight to take that step. You know, to be that leader.”
Listen to an audio summary of this article.
History was made recently at Great Smoky Cannabis Company, where lines stretched down the block for North Carolina’s first regulated recreational cannabis sale. About 4,000 people came from across the state and beyond to be part of this milestone.
“Cannabis brings everyone together,” – Kaytie Johnson from Bryson City
Great Smoky is the first recreational dispensary on tribal land in a state where cannabis remains illegal. The store is located on the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and offers legal cannabis to anyone—regardless of their state’s laws.
While cannabis is illegal federally, 24 states and 57 tribal dispensaries have legalized it, creating a growing market for safe, regulated cannabis.
Forrest Parker, the company’s executive director, voices his appreciation for the ongoing legalization process.
“It’s really amazing to be a part of that historical movement, and to be a part of a tribe that had the confidence… to take that step, you know, to be that leader, and to set the standard for health and safety.” – Forrest Parker, the company’s executive director.
Currently, North Carolina allows limited medical cannabis use but is debating broader legalization through the Compassionate Care Act. Advocates argue that cannabis could bring both economic benefits and safer access to the region.
I spoke with North Carolina Superior Court Judge, Richard Gottlieb, to see how he feels about the potential legalization of marijuana in North Carolina.
“I also see marijuana as a superior court judge very frequently associated with much more hardcore drugs. So I, I mean, I, I recognize that socially thoughts and moral thoughts on marijuana are kind of leaning towards and progressing towards liberalizing, but I remain concerned about what the long, what the long-term impact will be.” – Richard Gottlieb, Superior Court Judge
As North Carolina debates its cannabis future, Great Smoky Cannabis Company is already making an impact, both for the tribe and the state.
I’m Julia Thompson, reporting
