The Prairie Island Cannabis Campus sits on 13 acres of land south of the Twin Cities metro.

It’s a new venture for the Prairie Island Indian Community into Minnesota’s cannabis marketplace.

“It’s exciting, nerve-racking,” said Blake Johnson, a tribal member and president of Prairie Island CBH Inc.

Johnson hopes the economic boost from cannabis sales creates change in the community for their more than 1,100 tribal members.

“Provide basic services like health care, education, those types of things are important to tribes; this gives us the opportunity to grow that,” Johnson said. “Our hopes are to look out for the next seven generations of our community.”

The financial projections are kept close to their vest, but Johnson described it as a “significant opportunity” to bring in income.

Operations manager Yadel Mulugeta said the campus prides itself on organic farming practices.
“Make this community that we are working with very grateful,” Mulugeta said. “We’re limiting our externalities, limiting our footprint.”

Most of the soil used to grow the plants comes from the area.  

It takes about 90-100 days for a plant to grow, where the flower can later be used to be smoked, or the plant can be turned into edible products — like gummies.

The cannabis products are packaged on-site and then sold at the Island Peži store, which has brought more jobs to the area.

A year and a half into Minnesota’s cannabis legalization — a few tribal communities are the only ones in the business.

That’s because Minnesota’s licensing system that would allow businesses in the rest of the state to operate has experienced delays.

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The tribal communities of Red Lake Nation, White Earth Nation and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have also started cannabis enterprises.