Leech Lake Band Holds Grand Opening for ‘Sweetest Grass’ Dispensary

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe welcomed the general public this week to a grand opening ceremony for the Band’s newest venture into the cannabis industry.

After a soft opening on Monday for band members only, Leech Lake celebrated the opening of “Sweetest Grass,” the first dispensary on the reservation.

“On behalf of the Leech Lake Tribal Council, we’re just happy that this happened,” said Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Faron Jackson Sr. in an address to the crowd. “It’s been in the works for a while. You know, I thank the team for working so hard and diligently on making this happen this day. It takes … a combination of a lot of collaboration to get things right and before we open the doors here, we wanted to make sure we had everything right.”

Set up on Frontage Road right next to the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, location was important for the band to reach as much of the community as possible.

“We’re located kind of right in the heart of Cass County here, and this location was key,” explained Chairman Jackson. “As we thought about where we were going to open up the business at a good intersection right here. And I’m just, I’m just so excited it happened today.”

The dispensary says they are dedicated to upholding the highest standards of product quality and that it comes with many medical benefits.

“My elder, a Vietnam veteran, he was telling me about the benefits that he got from the hemp oil that he started to use for addressing his post-traumatic stress syndrome and his Agent Orange. He said, ‘Faron, it was real beneficial,'” said Jackson. “A lot of veterans that are dealing with that post-traumatic stress syndrome, with their anxiety and the issues that they deal with on a daily basis, it really helped them out, and that made me feel good, the medical things that that can benefit from from use. So, you know, that’s what it’s all about is to reach out to everyone, to let them know, you know, that this is here.”

The Leech Lake Band is hopeful that with the launch of this dispensary, there will be more to come in the future, but everything has to go right with this venture first.

“The economics of this project are of utmost importance,” stated Leech Lake Cannabis Company Commission Vice Chairman John Herrera. “I think that needs to be studied further before we can really go out and do these other types of licensures. We’re going to have to understand the economics as they play out in this business, but also what’s happening with other reservations and the state as they roll out their license opportunities. There’s going to be a lot of different analysis that will take place to see where this industry moves.”

The White Earth Reservation is the chief supplier for “Sweetest Grass,” and the Leech Lake Band believes this relationship could lead to possible joint opportunities in the future.