Behind the scenes: The only place that can legally sell marijuana in North Carolina

CHEROKEE, N.C. — Support for legalizing marijuana in North Carolina is growing.

A new bill was filed that would allow marijuana sales across the state to anyone 21 or older.

The only place legally selling marijuana is on the Cherokee reservation, which is marking one year since sales began.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty got an inside look at the operation, which is rapidly expanding.

The Great Smoky Cannabis Company in Cherokee sells 300 products made from marijuana.

Customers could be seen lining up on a weekday morning, waiting to get inside and make their purchases.

Behind the scenes, general manager Forest Parker showed Faherty the indoor grow operation, packaging areas, and a production line that makes gummies and edibles.

There are 70 greenhouses a few miles away filled with tens of thousands of plants, and a newly expanded indoor grow area will soon be operational.

Customer Rick Foley travels from Georgia and said the marijuana helps with his melanoma and prostate cancer.

“It helps relax you and take the nausea away and actually for pain also,” Foley said.

In September of 2023, nearly 70% of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians approved a referendum to legalize marijuana and soon after, the business began to take shape.

Sales on the reservation opened to the public in September 2024, and once customer said he bought marijuana on the first day. The man, who didn’t want to be identified, said he takes the product off the reservation to use it.

“I don’t want to get in no trouble,” he said. “But I don’t have no seizures with marijuana. I have pain and I use that.”

Parker said they had as many as 32,000 customers over six weeks earlier this year.

A woman, who is a retired nurse, showed Faherty the products she and her daughter bought to help a friend suffering from lung cancer.

“She’s in tremendous pain, and she just started chemo and radiation,” she said. “And she was having a lot of pain and nausea, and this just makes life bearable.”

Parker said stories like that inspire the more than 200 employees who manufacture safe marijuana products.

The business is growing fast with no competition, but Parker knows that could change if marijuana eventually becomes legal statewide.

“We welcome that,” Parker said. “We just want to position ourselves so that we are the gold standard for health and safety.”

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There are warnings about taking the products off the reservation. Transportation of cannabis off tribal lands is prohibited.

There are also rules banning marijuana use in public areas and sales are limited to 21 and up.

Faherty checked with neighboring counties and couldn’t find a single marijuana arrest from items sold at the Cherokee dispensary.

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