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Island Pezi has made history by becoming one of the first independent nations in Minnesota to establish its own cannabis dispensary. As advocates for responsible cannabis use and policy reform, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit Island Pezi. In this interview, we talk with board members Kimberely Campbell and Fred Erickson to explore the unique legal landscape they’ve created, the economic impact on their community, and their vision for the future of cannabis in sovereign territories.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you give an overview of Prairie Island and its accomplishments?
We started in the late 80’s with the bingo hall, then Treasure Island in 87 and then it has slowly grown over the years into the big hotel and resort you see over there today. For a long time, that was our only business, and we’ve always talked about how to broaden ourselves economically. So over the last few years, watching the rest of the country slowly legalize cannabis, it’s always been in the back of a lot of tribal members’ minds, or very vocally at quarterly meetings. “When are we going to do this?” We thought this would be a good new economic opportunity for the tribe.
When did you begin planning to open the dispensary? What was the timeline like, and who has been involved in the process?
The process began a little over a year ago. One of our tribal council members at the time was at RES, it’s a big economic kind of summit that happens in Las Vegas every year. It’s for tribes from all over the country. I think that’s where the connection with Honest Cannabis, our consultant, was made. By July, we knew that legalization was probably going to happen in August, so we formed a cannabis committee with about seven or eight tribal members. We began fleshing out the idea with Honest Cannabis and a team of attorneys.
We knew we’d have to handle our regulatory commission along with building the retail side. In January the building started and at that point we began the board of directors. So we formed a corporation, the first for Treasure Island. At the same time, Honest Cannabis created our regulatory commission, a separate entity with three members overseeing regulations, while we run the business.
What does the name Island Pezi mean?
Well, Pezi means grass, so we thought it was fun and tongue-in-cheek for the business. We went back and forth through a lot of name ideas and brought the community in. Pezi really stuck out. For legal purposes, we decided that we needed to have more than just Pezi. Because we are Treasure Island and we’re Prairie Island it made sense to put the island in the beginning. That’s how Island Pezi came to be.
Can you tell us about the partnership with White Earth currently, and what you’re doing moving forward with sourcing flower?
White Earth is the main and pretty much only provider of flower right now in the state. So for us it was really important to create a relationship with them. We are all really proud of the fact that we’re an indigenous economy and we’re having this exchange from one tribe to another. We’re really excited that that has been able to come into play. The state of Minnesota has done a lot for indigenous cannabis, for us to be able to grow our businesses first. That really helped us create a good economic relationship with White Earth, because we didn’t have anybody else to tend to. We think it’s important to support other indigenous businesses.
Can you dive deeper into the sovereign economy idea, for those who might not understand that at all, and what that means for you and others?
In general, it means a governing body, being us as a sovereign nation, doing our best to come up with our own ideas of what we want our economy to be. I absolutely like our relationship with White Earth. I think it really highlights the sovereign economy we’re doing tribal to tribal exchange of goods and money. So, that is a really great example of it.
How do you see Island Pezi contributing to the broader conversation about Native American representation in the cannabis industry?
I think we’re trying to show that we can run a successful business on our own, relying on tribe-to-tribe commerce, and sovereign economy. We’re helping to prove that Native Americans can trade with each other and create their own economy. This is the first time two tribes in Minnesota have traded with each other, at least in the modern era.
What unique cultural elements or traditions have you implemented into Island Pezi?
We spent quite a bit of time with a graphic designer. We sent her a lot of visual art, a lot of beadwork, historical kinds of photos, and she just did an excellent job of pulling our logo out of that. And I don’t think we could be happier with it. We think it’s fantastic. And then, of course, the name, we decided to use a Dakota word for our name.
What are some things you’re looking forward to in the future for Island Pezi?
We are actively developing a cannabis business park down the road. We have 13 acres out on the highway south of Hastings. We are building a distribution facility, and then we have had a land use agreement with two Minnesotan companies, and we have a grow.
We are also starting our own distribution company, and we’ll be distributing that product into our own retail and outside into other stores and retail around Minnesota. So yeah, that’s the most pertinent one right now. We have lots of ideas.
We want to diversify away from gaming, because we’ve been so reliant on gaming for the last 30 years or so, that’s really the only business we have. It’s always been a goal of ours to diversify away from gaming and start other types of businesses. Pursuing cannabis was our first option. There was just so much community support. No other business idea that I’ve heard of had that much support in the community. So I think the console felt comfortable pursuing it because they knew they had the whole community behind them.
Our first day open was June 24 so it’s been a couple months now, two and a half months, and it has been very busy every day. Beyond our expectations, for sure.
Editor’s Note: Exciting news from Island Pezi Cultivation! They’ve officially launched Island Pezi Flower — a product grown using regenerative farming practices. This approach focuses on restoring and enhancing the health of the land, water, and soil. By mimicking natural ecosystems, they aim to improve the health and vitality of their environment.
