As New York inches toward launching a retail marijuana market, sales of buds and edibles are already flourishing on some Native American land around the state.
The Associated Press
Many of these shops are small and far from big cities, and there's an internal dispute over the legality of about a dozen operations on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. But the sales show how Native Americans have been able to tap early into what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar statewide market. Native Americans call it an expression of their sovereignty and a way to bring much-needed economic activity to their territory.
New York legalized adult recreational marijuana a year ago, although statewide retail sales appear months off. State officials say initial sales could begin by the end of the year under a program providing the first licenses to people affected by marijuana-related convictions. Regulations for the entire adult-use market are expected this summer.
The reservation's main road now boasts marijuana shops near others selling low-cost cigarettes and gasoline. The new businesses attract customers like Nick Brooks, who recently purchased gummies while heading back from a trip to Home Depot. “It is legal in the same way that it is legal in states,” said Heather Trela, a marijuana policy expert at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany. “It’s still federally, obviously, illegal and they do have to make sure not to run amok of federal regulators.”
The Cayuga Nation, which already sells marijuana at two of its stores in the Finger Lakes, plans to open a cultivation facility before the year ends. The cannabis business “is the next step in expanding and diversifying the Cayuga Nation’s economic opportunities,” they said in a prepared statement.
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