In North Carolina, where the possession or use of marijuana is illegal, as of today the Cherokee Indian reservation is the first tribe in the United States of America (USA) to sell marijuana "for recreational use" to anyone over 21 years of age.
On the Facebook page of the company "Great Smoky Cannabis Co." in the reservation, there is a video of a line of people who have been waiting since morning for the store to open to buy marijuana, either by entering, or buying from their cars at the "drive-through" counter.
Before it offered marijuana to everyone, in April the store had only "medical marijuana" for adults, and since July 4, it has only been selling cannabis products "for recreational use" to adult members of that and other "recognized tribes."
Although the possession or use of marijuana is illegal in North Carolina, the tribe can authorize it on its reservation as if it were a sovereign state. Of the surrounding states, only Virginia allows legal "recreational use" of marijuana.
Members of the tribe decided in a referendum last September to allow the "recreational use" of marijuana on the reservation and recommended that the Tribal Council draft a law to regulate it, which was done in June.
Prior to the referendum, Republican US Congressman Chuck Edwards proposed legislation that would have denied federal highway funding to tribes and states that had legalized marijuana, but the proposal failed.
It is predicted that the tribal marijuana store, which is next to the casino on the reservation, will bring a solid income for almost 14.000 members of the tribe.
The official rate of poverty in American Indian reservations is 28,4 percent, and 12,7 at the US level. About 36 percent of families with children in reservations are below the poverty line, and 9,2 percent at the US level. In the reserves, there are high rates of alcoholism and drug addiction among the population.
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