Following two recent successful Native American cannabis dispensary openings in Washington, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs will vote today on its potential $26mm per year project in Oregon.
Warm Springs is the first in Oregon, home to nine federally recognized tribes, to put the issue to its members.
The tribes’ proposal calls for a production and processing facility on about five acres of the tribes’ 650,000-acre reservation, the largest in Oregon. Marijuana would be grown in a greenhouse that would range from 10,000 to 36,000 square feet, said Don Sampson, CEO of Warm Springs Ventures, the tribes’ economic development corporation and the group behind the proposal.
Sales would only be allowed off the reservation at three stores operated by the Warm Springs, he said. The proposal would not change the law on the reservation, where marijuana remains illegal.
The results of the vote should be made available tomorrow. If the tribe approves, it will then likely enter discussions with the State of Oregon, similar to what the Suquamish Tribe and the Squaxin Island Tribe did in Washington, with both signing a compact.
Read Noelle’s “Warm Springs tribes vote on starting marijuana business”: http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2015/12/warm_springs_tribes_vote_on_st.html
