Last verified: May 2026
The March 2020 Tribal Referendum
In March 2020, the Oglala Sioux Tribe held a tribal referendum on cannabis policy. Tribal members voted to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The vote made Pine Ridge among the first U.S. tribal nations to authorize a comprehensive medical-and-recreational cannabis program.
The referendum was particularly significant given Pine Ridge’s long-standing prohibition of alcohol. The reservation had been alcohol-free for more than a century — a tribal policy reflecting both treaty-history considerations and the documented impact of alcohol on Native American communities. The tribe’s decision to authorize cannabis (while continuing to restrict alcohol) reflects the distinction tribal leadership drew between the two substances.
Operating Dispensaries
As of 2026, Pine Ridge hosts at least four operating cannabis retail outlets:
- No Worries — the leading retail dispensary, owned by Adonis Saltes, located in the town of Pine Ridge.
- Three additional licensed retail outlets operating under the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s tribal cannabis-program framework.
Sales and Revenue
The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Revenue Office reported approximately $1.3 million in cannabis sales in the first two quarters of legalization in 2022, generating roughly $165,000 in tribal tax revenue, according to figures cited by SDBML’s Matthew Schweich and SD State-Tribal Relations Committee testimony in 2024.
The Pennington County Off-Reservation Posture
One of the most distinctive features of Pine Ridge’s cannabis program: the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office told KFF Health News in 2022 it had not arrested anyone for off-reservation possession of cannabis purchased on Pine Ridge. This sharp contrast with the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s experience (state and local law enforcement have charged Native and non-Native patients with off-rez possession of FSST cannabis) reflects:
- Different sheriff-office enforcement priorities.
- Different geographic dynamics (Pennington County’s rural Black Hills environment vs. Moody County’s eastern-SD agricultural register).
- Possibly different tribal-state diplomatic relationships.
The Pennington-County non-enforcement is not statutorily protected and could change with a sheriff or DA personnel transition. Patients and visitors should not assume the non-enforcement posture extends across the state.
The Alex White Plume Hemp History
The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s 2000-era hemp program (under Alex White Plume’s family) is part of the reservation’s cannabis history. White Plume cultivated industrial hemp on Pine Ridge in the early 2000s; federal authorities destroyed those crops and issued restraining orders before the 2018 Farm Bill made hemp federally legal. The White Plume case became a foundational precedent in tribal-sovereignty + federal-cannabis-prohibition jurisprudence.
Wounded Knee + AIM Heritage
Pine Ridge sits in Oglala Lakota County, the historical site of:
- Wounded Knee massacre (December 29, 1890) — one of the foundational events in modern Native American history.
- Wounded Knee occupation (February 27 — May 8, 1973) — the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupation that became a foundational event in modern tribal-sovereignty advocacy.
The cannabis-legalization vote in 2020 occurred against this deep historical context. Native sovereignty advocates have framed Pine Ridge cannabis as continuous with the longer history of tribal economic self-determination — including AIM’s emphasis on tribal control of tribal-land economic resources. See Wounded Knee & AIM page.
The Treaty-Sovereignty Framework
Pine Ridge cannabis operates under the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s tribal-government authority, which is recognized under U.S. constitutional law as exercising "domestic dependent nation" sovereignty under the framework of the Marshall Trilogy (Worcester v. Georgia, 1832). Federal-cannabis-prohibition limits exist (the 2014 DOJ Wilkinson Memo’s tribal-cannabis non-enforcement framework was updated by the 2018 DOJ Sessions Memo, which rescinded earlier non-enforcement guidance), but tribal-program operations have continued in practice. The April 28, 2026 Schedule III rescheduling does not directly modify tribal-program legal status, which operates primarily under tribal law.
Practical Notes for Visitors
- Tribal-program purchases must be consumed on tribal land. Moving cannabis off-reservation triggers state (and potentially federal) jurisdiction.
- The Pennington County sheriff non-enforcement is not extended state-wide. Other county sheriffs and ALEA may enforce state law differently.
- Federal interstate-transport prohibition applies. Bringing Pine Ridge cannabis across the SD line into MN, MT, or other states is a federal felony regardless of legal status at the destination.
- Tourism context. Black Hills tourism brings Pine Ridge visitors; the cannabis-program access is a documented tourism dimension but federal-land overlay (Mount Rushmore, Badlands) substantially constrains lawful consumption.
For in-depth cannabis education, dosing guides, safety information, and research summaries, visit our partner site TryCannabis.org
Related on this site: Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe & Na..., Cheyenne River, SD Tribal-State Cannabis Compacts.