RED LAKE – Red Lake’s marijuana dispensary, NativeCare, will be operated as a stand-alone business instead of tribal council control following a unanimous vote for the council to step away from day-to-day operations of the business on Jan. 30.
The vote came after an allegation that a large amount of cannabis was removed from the facility without authorization.
According to a release, an employee at NativeCare’s grow facility alleged that Tribal Secretary Sam Strong had removed a significant amount of trim — the leaf byproduct that is removed from cannabis flowers after harvest — that was stored in garbage bags at the facility.
Tribal council members reviewed a report detailing that the trim was picked by one of NativeCare’s business partners for the purpose of processing the material into other products, such as vape cartridges.
After reviewing this report, the NativeCare employee who made the initial report admitted that he never saw Strong take any cannabis material from the grow facility and that “his earlier report was incorrect,” the release said.
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Inquiries were also made into Strong’s activities within his official capacity as a member of the cannabis board. The Tribal Regulatory Cannabis Board