The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe signed a compact agreement Wednesday morning with Gov. Tim Walz at the state’s Capitol.
The agreement recognizes the Mille Lacs Band’s authority to regulate and sell cannabis outside its land in central Minnesota.
News came early Wednesday when Aarik Robertson, general manager of Lake Leaf, the tribe’s cannabis company, made a brief announcement at the Minnesota Cannabis Real Estate Conference taking place in Golden Valley.
A spokesperson for the Office of Cannabis Management confirmed the signing of the agreement. In an interview with MPR News, OCM director Eric Taubel said that the timing of the new compact could help meet the growing demand for cannabis flower from retailers licensed by the state.
“This compact paves the way for those unique partnerships that we haven’t seen in other states where a small family-owned business can be selling cannabis grown on a tribal reservation in the state market to state citizens,” Taubel said.
Taubel said that as of Wednesday the state has issued more than 30 licenses to cannabis retailers.
Virgil Wind, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band, signed the agreement on behalf of the tribe.
The band currently owns and operates two dispensaries at temporary locations within the boundaries of the Mille Lacs reservation. Another dispensary on tribal land is in the planning stage. Wind says the band will work toward building brick and mortar stores for those businesses. He believes Mille Lacs Band’s growing operation is poised to supply its own dispensaries and supply cannabis wholesale to state-licensed retailers.
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