White Earth Nation Opens First Cannabis Dispensary Located Outside of Tribal Lands in Minnesota

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On May 23, 2025, White Earth Nation officially opened the first cannabis dispensary located outside of Tribal lands (1). The recreational cannabis dispensary is located in Moorhead, Minnesota.

With this location, it marks history for White Earth Nation (1,2).

“This has never been done before, being the first to be able to open an off-reservation dispensary, let alone just the first dispensary in the state,” said Zach Wilson, CEO of White Earth’s cannabis business, Waabigwan Mashkiki (1).

Minnesota legalized cannabis in 2023 (1). Not long after its legalization, Waabigwan Mashkiki opened in the beginning of August 2023 and became one of the first dispensaries to legally begin to sell adult-use cannabis in the state (3).

A recent agreement between White Earth Nation and the state of Minnesota (2,4) allows the tribal nation to be able to open cannabis dispensaries throughout the state. They are limited to establishing up to eight dispensaries outside of their Tribal lands, according to the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and reported by CBS News (2).

Being in the cannabis space, White Earth Nation hopes to be able to provide education which will benefit the industry and move it forward (1).

“We're trying to work really hard to drop the taboo and the concept or the thought process that this is a bad thing,” Wilson commented (1). “This is a great product. It’s a safe product and more people should be using it.”

According to MPR News, some of the opening day products at the dispensary included drinks and smokeable flower (1). Future products may include vape cartridge concentrates and gummies.

“Everything we manufacture we grow,” Wilson explained (1). “So everything we sell is all completely vertical, seed to sale. So, every genetic grown in-house, processed, manufactured. The only thing we don’t manufacture is our beverages, but everything else absolutely, completely in house.”

Wilson expressed that the Moorhead location was selected due to its “proximity to the reservation,” (1).

“It’s probably the biggest city next to us,” Wilson said (1). “We have a lot of consumers that come to the reservation that are always talking about, ‘Man, we wish you guys were a little bit closer.’ So, it just made sense.”

Future plans on other dispensaries will include a location in St. Cloud which is anticipated to open sometime next month (1).

References

1. Holding Eagle III, M. White Earth Nation Opens State’s first recreational cannabis dispensary outside tribal lands https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/05/24/white-earth-nation-opens-states-first-recreational-cannabis-dispensary-outside-tribal-lands (accessed May 27, 2025).
2. Esteban, A. White Earth Nation gets approval to open cannabis shops off tribal land https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/white-earth-nation-opening-cannabis-shops-off-tribal-land/ (accessed May 27, 2025).
3. Colli, M. Medical Cannabis Program and adult-use cannabis sales launched by White Earth Nation https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/medical-cannabis-program-and-adult-use-cannabis-sales-launched-by-white-earth-nation (accessed May 27, 2025).
4. https://mn.gov/ocm/assets/White_Earth_Band_OCM_Cannabis_Compact_Signed_tcm1202-685304.pdf (accessed May 27, 2025).