JUSTICE DEPT. TO TRIBES: MARIJUANA GROWING ON RESERVATIONS ACCEPTABLE, WITH LIMITS

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East County News Service

January 11, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – At the request of Native American tribes, the U.S. Department of Justice has issued a policy statement offering guidance to U.S. Attorneys on priorities for enforcing marijuana laws on tribal lands. Given that many states have legalized marijuana for medical, agricultural or recreational use, the statement lists eight priorities for enforcement on Indian lands—and makes clear that any enforcement must require consultation with tribal partners.

“The tribes have the sovereign right to set the code on their reservations,” says Timothy Purdon, U.S. attorney for North Dakota and chairman of the Attorney General’s Subcommittee on Native American issues, U.S. news reports.

Many have interpreted the Justice Department’s  statement as giving a green light for tribes that wish to cash in on growing marijuana for lawful uses to do so – and some California tribes are moving forward to do just that.

“On December 12, the Department of Justice issued a statement saying that it would not interfere with Native American tribes who choose to legalize marijuana for medical, agricultural and recreational use on tribal lands,” an article in Native Times, a publication for Native Americans, reports.

The federal statement appears to allow tribes that wish to grow marijuana for legal purposes to engage in cultivation, provided they don’t trigger one of the eight enforcement guidelines.

Those triggers include distributing marijuana to minors, funneling revenues to criminal enterprises such as cartels or gangs, diverting marijuana to states where use remains illegal, using marijuana activity as a cover for other illegal activity, using firearms in cultivation or distribution of marijuana, drugged driving, or growing marijuana on public lands.

But the Justice Department statement warns that nothing in the statement “precludes investigation or prosecution”  so some ambivalence remains.

Still some tribes  are moving forward.   The Pomo tribe in Mendocino County,  California is building a $10 million indoor marijuana growing facility near Ukiah—and that’s come as a surprise to county officials.   They are believed to be the first California tribe to build a large-scale cannabis cultivation facility. But the Riverside Press Democrat says the same corporations helping the Pomo tribe set up operations plans similar cultivation sites on at least two other locations on tribal lands in Southern California and Central California.

State and local governments won’t have much if any say-so about tribal marijuana cultivation in states where it is legal. Medical marijuana is legal in California and in 2016, a ballot initiative is expected to ask voters whether or not to approve legalizing recreational use as well.

Southern California is home to nearly 30 recognized Indian tribes and there are 326 federally recognized tribes nationwide.  While some market watchers had anticipated tobacco companies might have taken the lead in large-scale marijuana growing operations to fill demand in 23 states where some form of marijuana use is now legal, it now appears that Native American tribes will be first in the market.

The marijuana cultivation industry, like casinos, could provide a lucrative source of income that could reduce the high rate of poverty that remains in many Indian nations, also providing jobs on reservations.

But not everyone is happy about the move.  Some, such as the Yakima tribe in Washington state, remain opposed to marijuana cultivation, the Los Angeles Times reports.    

Kevin Sabet, former advisor on drug issues to President Obama, has called the policy “extremely troubling.” He now directs the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida.  Sabet observes that Native Americans and their families suffer disproportionately from addiction compared to other groups, particularly with alcohol.  Sabet says, “The last thing they want is another commercialized industry that targets them for greater use.”

But Dale Gieringer, California state coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, sees  tribal efforts to meet legal marijuana demand as a sign of the times.  “Legalization is coming,” he predicts.  


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Comments

I think.....

....it's about time the great, failed, Socialist, experiment called the Bureau of Indian Affairs came to a screaming halt. The very idea of a "sovereign" nation in the middle of a "sovereign" nation is INSANITY. With the savings we could pay all those welfare benefits the "Progressives" are always yelling for.