Minnesota’s Bold Recognition of Tribal Sovereignty
by Jen Randolph Reise
As a former law professor, I can tell you that the two most complex areas of law I have ever encountered involve states declaring cannabis legal (while it remains illegal on the federal level) and tribal law, which involves treaties (agreements between sovereign nations) and the dizzying jurisdictional analysis they create between the federal government, states, and each tribal government. Here, in Minnesota, the two are combined.
In HF100, Minnesota law broke new ground in this interplay by directing the governor’s office to negotiate compacts with any of Minnesota’s tribes interested in being part of the cannabis industry.
When I talk about Minnesota on a national stage, as I will at MJBizCon in December (the cannabis industry’s international tradeshow in Vegas), I point out three truly unique factors influencing Minnesota’s market: vertically-integrated and uncapped microlicenses, the acceptance of hemp-derived THC beverages before adult-use legislation, and going beyond any other state in recognizing tribal sovereignty in cannabis.
Minnesota is home to eleven tribal nations, and all but one have chosen to participate in the cannabis market.These tribes have embraced cannabis as a long-term economic development opportunity for their people. Contrast that with the out-of-state cannabis operators who are approaching Minnesota’s market with a three to five-year time horizon. They plan to quickly set up a compliant business, ride the price wave up and then down, and exit profitably. Instead, Nixon Malcolm, Director of Operations for the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (White Earth), explained that the tribe is building for the long run. They’re training tribal members in cultivation and manufacturing, investing in facilities, and fostering community development that lifts the entire tribe.
A New Compact Framework
A tribal compact is an agreement between a state government and a tribal government. As a sovereign nation, a tribe has broad powers to regulate within its borders (i.e., on tribal land). Each tribe interested in the cannabis industry establishes its own cannabis regulatory body rather than being subject to the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM)’s authority. The only other compacts between Minnesota and the tribes within its borders have been gaming compacts (1989-1991).
“Out of pure fear, people start working to undermine the other’s position because they think it’s a zero-sum game. There’s no fight here. The fight is against the Feds, to not regulate cannabis like plutonium.”
— Dale Sky Jones of Oaksterdam
“The point of the compact is to allow these two markets to interact as far as product standards and testing,” explained tribal cannabis law expert Keith Justin Anderson, who has consulted with numerous tribes across the nation, including tribes in Minnesota. In other words, the compact sets standards to allow tribal cannabis businesses and the OCM-licensed cannabis businesses to sell products to one another and otherwise interact commercially. The compact also allows White Earth a negotiated number of licenses to operate cannabis businesses off of tribal land, and sets standards for what can be sold to consumers.
Minnesota’s approach is groundbreaking. To date, only a handful of states have entered into cannabis compacts with tribes. Washington and Nevada signed narrow cannabis compacts years ago, but those agreements did not grant tribes the ability to operate off-reservation retail. Minnesota’s framework, by contrast, explicitly anticipated compacts in its 2023 legalization bill and provided a process to negotiate them.
In Anderson’s opinion, “The Minnesota compacts are shaping up to be much better for both tribes and the state.” This is especially true compared to previous efforts in other states.
Indeed, the tribes have already been essential players in Minnesota’s budding cannabis industry.
Early Adopters
Two tribes opened on-reservation dispensaries soon after it became legal in Minnesota. Red Lake Band of Chippewa opened their previously medical operations to anyone 21+ on the first day cannabis became legal in Minnesota, August 1, 2023. White Earth and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe were close behind. All three reservations are a long drive from most of Minnesota’s consumers, however. Then, in 2024, the Prairie Island Dakota opened Island Pezi in front of their casino near Red Wing, only one hour from the Twin Cities.
Compacts To Date
In May 2025, White Earth signed Minnesota’s first cannabis regulatory compact and promptly opened the nation’s first off-reservation tribal dispensary in Moorhead, MN, on the North Dakota border. White Earth also opened a second location this summer in St. Cloud, Minnesota, only an hour from the Twin Cities.
By September 2025, a second compact was signed with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (who own the Grand Casinos), and more compacts are expected to be signed this fall. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, who own the powerhouse Mystic Lake Casino on the south edge of the Twin Cities, are reportedly investing heavily.
Opening the Market
Thus, as Minnesota’s adult-use market opens up, the tribes are both competitors with and suppliers to the OCM-regulated adult-use market. In September, Legacy Glassworks in Duluth opened the state’s first microbusiness dispensary, selling flower grown by White Earth, and sold much more of it at Minnesota’s first licensed Cannabis Event, the Legacy Cup 2025.
The tribes have a limited supply and their own supply chain priorities, which angers some microbusinesses trying to secure it for sales in their stores. It’s a complicated picture.
National cannabis reform leader Dale Sky Jones of Oaksterdam told me that she has seen conflict between competing sectors of the cannabis industry get very ugly in other states. “Out of pure fear, people start working to undermine the other’s position because they think it’s a zero-sum game,” she said. “There’s no fight here. The fight is against the Feds, to not regulate cannabis like plutonium.”
This fall, consumers across Minnesota will see dispensaries open not just in Moorhead or Mahnomen, but in communities statewide. When they do, tribal and non-tribal businesses alike will stand side by side in shaping a cannabis market that is uniquely Minnesota’s — diverse, craft-friendly, and respectful of sovereignty.