MAHNOMEN, Minn. – A potato chip factory promised to lift up the state’s poorest county, but the jobs never came.
The $8.5 million plant sat idle for more than a decade in the heart of the White Earth reservation – until cannabis came to town.
Inside the sprawling warehouse today is the pungent buzz of the White Earth Nation-owned company Waabigwan Mashkiki, a major player in Minnesota’s recreational marijuana market.
Tribes were the seeds for the state’s budding industry and have become crucial suppliers for dispensaries across Minnesota. But the most consequential benefit for tribes is the ability to operate their own dispensaries beyond reservation boundaries. No other state allows this.