Tribal cannabis will grow in South Dakota after ballot assaults

Nineteen tribes have built dispensaries near casinos so far including in South Dakota where the state’s Republican governor and catholic attorney general are confirmed racists. Tribal casinos are small banks and as of May, 2024 forty seven Native cannabis retailers are operating fifty seven stores in nine states for a gain of some thirty percent since January, 2023. 

Nez Perce citizen, Mary Jane Oatman is executive director of the Indigenous Cannabis Association. In 2022 she spoke at the organization's conference in Milwaukee as did Rich Tall Bear Westerman (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate). ICA sees a banking future with Green Check Verified that connects thousands of cannabis businesses with financial service providers.

“Tribes are embracing sovereignty in the cannabis industry as an emerging multi-billion dollar forecast, but they’re doing it in a way that’s not as fast and fancy as what happened with gaming because there’s a lack of guidance,” Oatman said. “They don’t have that same infrastructure.” [Tribal Cannabis growth threatened by banks]

Another non-tribal retailer has folded its tent and more are expected to follow as the number of therapeutic cannabis permits declined and voters in South Dakota protected tribal cannabis.

Chairman Peter Lengkeek of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe isn’t too worried. The tribe’s dispensary has been lucrative for the South Dakota tribe and he expects it will continue to be successful. In addition to owning and operating the High Plainz Dispensary in Fort Thompson, South Dakota, the tribe cultivates marijuana [sic], using grazing and agriculture lands that were previously leased out. The tribe currently is cultivating about 13,000 acres of formerly leased lands. “We took back our lands that historically were leased out for pennies allowing non-Indians to create generational wealth for themselves,” Lengkeek said. “We’re planting and harvesting our own crop. We have become more self-sufficient.” [Native Vote 2024: Marijuana measures could impact tribal businesses]

Perhaps the biggest cannabis competition facing tribal communities trapped in South Dakota is the likelihood that Minnesota border towns will capitalize on red state failure.