St. Paul, Minn. – Today, Governor Tim Walz and the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced the signing of a new Tribal-state cannabis compact authorized under state statute. The agreement outlines how the state of Minnesota and the Prairie Island Indian Community will promote lawful, cooperative, and mutually beneficial relationships to regulate cannabis and promote public health and safety.

“This milestone underscores our ongoing commitment to the people of Minnesota and Tribal Nations,” said OCM Executive Director Eric Taubel. “This compact provides state-licensed cannabis businesses the opportunity to partner with Prairie Island Indian Community and boost supply of product while maintaining the Tribe's inherent sovereignty and right to self-govern.”

In establishing Minnesota’s cannabis law, the state Legislature directed the governor to negotiate intergovernmental agreements—cannabis compacts—with Tribal Nations sharing territory with Minnesota to strengthen public health and safety, secure an equitable and well-regulated cannabis market, and provide financial benefits to both the state and Tribal Nations.

Although the specifics of each Tribal-state compact are unique to each Tribal Nation, all of them contain the same commitments to put public health and safety first through product testing, data gathering and analysis, ensuring consistency for customers throughout Minnesota's cannabis market. Each of the compacts contain provisions that create opportunities for Tribal Nations to partner with state-licensed businesses to sell Tribally grown cannabis products at wholesale into the state market. Prairie Island Indian Community plans to begin wholesaling activities with state-licensed cannabis businesses next month.

“We’re grateful to have this compact completed, and we’re excited to continue meeting demand in Minnesota’s growing recreational cannabis market with the exceptional cannabis products we are producing,” said Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Council President Grant Johnson. “We’re very proud of the disciplined systems and processes we have created to ensure the safe, secure operation of our cannabis business on and off our reservation land. Those systems are modeled upon our more than 40 years of successful Tribal regulation of our gaming enterprise, and we are eager to continue applying that expertise to our cannabis operations.”

Compact negotiations continue between the state and Tribal Nations sharing territory with the state of Minnesota are ongoing. In May, the state finalized a cannabis compact with the White Earth Nation and last month, the state entered into a compact with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. The state expects to announce additional Tribal-state cannabis compacts soon.

More information about the compacting process, including copies of signed, executed Tribal-state cannabis compacts, can be found on OCM’s /ocm/tribal-nation/compacts.jspTribal Compacts webpage.

Media Contacts:
Jim Walker
Office of Cannabis Management
(651) 539-5082, jim.walker@state.mn.us

Eric Pehle
Epic Associates (on behalf of the Prairie Island Indian Community)
(612) 819-5776, eric.pehle@epicassociatesllc.com