2024 A Look Back: The steamroller award
File photo
We hate to belabor one topic, but we have more than one marijuana-related award to hand out this year.
The steamroller award goes to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who launched their cannabis venture despite no shortage of opposition from outside the Qualla Boundary.
The rollout moved forward over the course of a series of milestones that began, in earnest, last year when enrolled members voted overwhelmingly to legalize the sale, possession and use of adult recreational cannabis.
On 4/20, a well-known stoner holiday, the tribe opened its 10,000 square-foot dispensary to medicinal card holders; cards were handed out to individuals diagnosed with one of a number of conditions, including Crohn’s disease, anxiety and cancer.
Next, on another relatively well-known holiday — July 4 — cannabis sales began on the Qualla Boundary for all adults who were members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians or any other federal recognized tribe.
Finally, on Sept. 7, the anniversary of the vote to legalize adult recreational use, the dispensary opened up to anyone over the age of 21.
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But the leadup to each of these milestones was fraught with turmoil from local and federally elected officials.
In a letter from North Carolina’s Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, several questions were raised regarding the legality and logistics of the tribe’s cultivation, processing, transportation and sales of marijuana. The questions in that letter were posed to elected and appointed leaders around the region.
In September of last year, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) introduced the Stop Pot Act in Congress, which would have withheld federal funding from states and tribes that permit the use of recreational cannabis. In that release, Edwards noted that the background of the bill was tied directly to EBCI’s vote to allow recreational adult use of cannabis and the fact that its passage would make the Qualla Boundary the only place in North Carolina to allow recreational adult use.
“The laws of any government should not infringe on the overall laws of our nation, and federal funds should not be awarded to jurisdictions that willfully ignore federal law,” Edwards said in the release. “During a time when our communities are seeing unprecedented crime, drug addiction, and mental illness, the Stop Pot Act will help prevent even greater access to drugs and ease the strain placed on our local law enforcement and mental health professionals who are already stretched thin.”
But never mind that. Sept. 7, 2024, felt like more of a celebration than a grand opening, drawing people from all over North Carolina and surrounding states. The event featured special deals and even a celebrity appearance by Nathan Apodaca, better recognized by many as Doggface. Apodaca is an actor and musical artist best-known for the 2020 viral video set to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” in which he rides a skateboard, carefree, drinking cran-raspberry juice straight from the bottle. Reports note that at least one Smoky Mountain News reporter had butterflies in his stomach upon meeting Apodaca.
The first customer to show up at the door of the dispensary, which began sales at 10 a.m., arrived at 1 a.m., and the line grew steadily. By the time doors opened, the line snaked through the parking lot out to a far-flung side road. That line stayed about that long for hours, as thousands of people funneled through.
While it’s not yet known publicly how well the cannabis enterprise is doing, anecdotal accounts are that there’s been a steady flow of traffic. Time will tell if the tribe meets its lofty nine-figure projections.
