CHEROKEE, N.C. (WLOS) — On April 20, 2024, hundreds of people with medical cannabis patient cards lined up to buy the first legal medical marijuana within North Carolina and the nation where it remains illegal.
It’s raising safety questions among members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, as well as surrounding counties as applications for patient cards surge beyond the thousand already issued.
With recreation sales soon to follow, News 13 has what you need to know about buying with a patient card and how safety issues are being addressed.
MEDICAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY OPENS
“Three, two, one,” counted the crowd, as the ribbon was cut, opening the Great Smoky Cannabis Company’s dispensary.
What began with 40 products will be continuously cultivated, similar to the expansion at the Cooper’s Creek grow site since early 2023.
“Every week, every month that we’re open, more products come out every week,” said Forrest Parker, general manager of Qualla Enterprises LLC and Great Smoky Cannabis Company.
It’s expected to intensify as recreational use approved by the Tribe last September is added.
“So what you will see in here in a very short period of time is over 500 individual skews that are all produced, all grown, produced branded and sold right here on the Qualla Boundary,” said Parker.
It’s a point of pride for Parker.
“This project for me became a lot about cultivating people and not just plants and I didn’t realize it at first,” said Parker.
