A member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has become the first licensed cannabis cultivator within the reservation, Lakeland PBS reports.
Delman Jones, owner of Jones Cannabis Company, received his license by the end of April. The company currently runs roughly 100 plants in a 500-square-foot indoor space, built at a cost of $400,000. Both White Earth and Red Lake Nation operate self-regulated cultivation facilities tied to their respective dispensaries. Leech Lake’s approval of Delman is the tribe’s first such license issued to a Band member.
“Leech Lake being the first licensed Band members in the state of Minnesota, it was quite an endeavor,” Delman says. “It mimics a licensure across the board. It took several months for them to not just license us but to create the framework itself.”
The tribe had no existing cannabis licensing structure before Delman applied, meaning the Band had to design and ratify the regulatory framework before it could process a single application.
“I don’t use, I don’t consume, I don’t do anything along those lines,” Delman says. “But it’s a new industry and I always wanted to start out on the ground floor of something just breaking out. Cannabis provided the perfect opportunity.”
All output from Jones Cannabis Company is contracted to Sweetest Grass, a privately owned dispensary tied to the Leech Lake Band. Sweetest Grass currently operates two locations, in Walker and Cass Lake, with a third planned for Deer River.
“The primary reason we wanted to enter is the profitability and exercising our sovereignty as a tribal nation,” Delman says. “It’s important for us to establish our rights on a civil regulatory basis and following federal law. We look forward to working with Leech Lake and our surrounding community for the next years to come.”
“We have roughly 100 plants at any given time,” Delman says. “Now we’re new to licensure, we have quite a few sprouts growing, but nothing of real value at this point.”
Source: https://www.mmjdaily.com/article/9839202/us-mn-cultivation-facility-approved-for-leech-lake-band/
