After a series of controversial remarks about alleged drug trade on reservations, three more Native American tribes in South Dakota banned Gov. Kristi Noem from setting foot on their reservations, bringing the total number of tribal reservations to ban her to seven. 

The Associated Press reports that tribes are reacting to remarks from the governor, essentially saying that their reservations are havens for drug dealers selling fentanyl and other drugs, and that tribal leaders are allegedly not doing anything about it.

“We’ve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that’s why they attack me every day,” Noem said at a forum. “But I’m going to fight for the people who actually live in those situations, who call me and text me every day and say, ’Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared.’ ”

The rift between Noem and tribes in her state continues to divide the two.

Noem posted on X a video of Chris Hansen from TruBlu investigating the trade of fentanyl, which includes some footage from Native American reservations in South Dakota. “Tribal leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” she posted. “We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do their job.”

The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock Sioux tribes already took action to ban her off their reservations. Last week, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate (SWO) tribe banned Noem from their lands, and when the SWO tribe banned her, the 13,057 square-miles of South Dakota land held by tribal nations that have already banned here amounted to nearly 17% of the state’s total area. 

The Pine Ridge Reservation (Oglala Lakota) makes up 3,469 square-miles, while the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota comprises 4,267 square-miles, and a portion of the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota comprises 2,530 square-miles. The portion of the Lake Traverse Reservation (Sisseton Wahpeton) in South Dakota is about 1,400-square-miles, and the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota comprises 1,391-square-miles.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from their land in southeastern South Dakota just a few days later. Since there are nine tribal reservations in the state, just a few other remaining Native American tribes in the state haven’t banned her yet.

It’s not the first time the tribes have been at odds with Noem. In 2016, the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock took place and again during the COVID-19 pandemic when state leaders set up coronavirus checkpoints at reservation borders to keep out unnecessary visitors. She was temporarily banned from the Oglala Sioux reservation in 2019 after the protest dispute.

Things in general haven’t fared well between South Dakota’s Native Americans when it comes to European contact. In 1890, soldiers from the United States Army shot and killed hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at the Wounded Knee massacre—simply to stop a religious practice known as the Ghost Dance.

Noem as a Vice Presidential Running Mate

Noem was eyed as a potential Vice President running mate for Donald Trump, but her controversial comments could change that. Dallas-based political observer Cal Jillson said this tribal dispute hits different because Noem appears to be “stoking it actively, which suggests that she sees a political benefit.”

“I’m sure that Gov. Noem doesn’t mind a focus on tensions with the Native Americans in South Dakota because if we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about her shooting the dog,” Jillson told the Associated Press.

Last month, a clip from her new book No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward revealed that the governor gunned down her puppy dog when it proved incapable of being trained.

“Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” the South Dakota governor wrote in her new book, adding that the female dog had an “aggressive personality” and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant. This particular passage sparked outrage. Noem wrote about making “hard choices” like shooting Cricket, as well as a goat on her property.

“We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” Noem posted on X in response. “Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”

Noem’s new controversy with nearly every Native American reservation in the state is putting the public eye back on her remarks once again.

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A federally recognized tribe concentrated largely in the Great Lakes region announced last week that it will decriminalize cannabis.

“The Ho-Chunk Nation recognizes that marijuana and its derivatives are natural growth plants with medicinal and industrial applications,” the tribe said in a statement, as quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Indigenous people have used marijuana and hemp for hundreds of years for a variety of purposes and the Ho-Chunk Nation acknowledges its functional purpose.”

Rob Pero, founder of the nonprofit Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association, called it “a historic day for Ho-Chunk.”

“We commend their commitment to increasing accessibility to plant medicine. … They are building an environment now, before prohibition ends, that will position them to lead the industry, create sustainable economic opportunity and improve the health and wellbeing of our people,” Pero said, as quoted by the Journal Sentinel.

“Tribes are able today to self-determine their interests in cannabis and the complex landscape requires the navigation of local, tribal, state and federal policy,” Pero adde. “We see the reclassification empowering tribes to engage meaningfully throughout the supply chain, from farming to processing to retail and more, as well as to facilitate interstate nation-to-nation commerce.”

The Ho-Chunk Nation reportedly made the announcement on April 30. According to Wisconsin Public Radio, it means that cannabis will be decriminalized on tribal lands “and Ho-Chunk police will not issue citations for possession.”

What it does not mean, however, is that marijuana is legal there. Wisconsin Public Radio noted that “tribal law experts advise the drug is still illegal,” and that an “FAQ distributed within the Ho-Chunk nation indicates county or state police could still issue citations.”

“Wisconsin is one of six states that has criminal jurisdiction over Native Americans on reservation land under a law known as Public Law 280. The law applies to all federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin except for the Menominee, which is under the jurisdiction of the federal government,” the public radio station said, adding that it “could make it difficult to set up businesses that cultivate or sell cannabis for medicinal or recreational purposes” and that it “could even deter customers who now travel to neighboring states where cannabis is currently legal.”

According to its official website, the Ho-Chunk Nation legislature “is comprised of four branches of government; executive, legislative, judicial and the general council,” which are “made up of 13 representatives called Legislators from four districts, who can serve up to two terms of four (4) years.” Three of the four districts are in Wisconsin, with the fourth covering all districts outside Wisconsin.

Both medical and recreational cannabis are illegal in Wisconsin –– one of the few remaining states with total prohibition on pot. 

A Republican-led effort to pass a medical marijuana bill in this year’s legislative session failed in February. 

The proposal “drew opposition for being too conservative in severely limiting who could have access to medical marijuana and how it would be distributed, while others faulted it for not going far enough,” according to the Associated Press, which added that Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate “objected to having state-run dispensaries, while Democrats pushed for full legalization.”

Democrats in the Badger State, including Gov. Tony Evers, has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana reform, pushing Wisconsin lawmakers to legalize both recreational and medical cannabis.

Evers said in January that he backed the GOP medical marijuana measure, even though it wasn’t as comprehensive as he would prefer. 

“I would think that getting it all done in one fell swoop would be more thoughtful as far as meeting the needs of Wisconsinites that have asked for it,” Evers said at the time. “But if that’s what we can accomplish right now, I’ll be supportive of that.”

Wisconsin could be losing out on precious tax revenue due to its ongoing prohibition. An economic analysis released last year found that neighboring Illinois, where marijuana is legal, has received millions of dollars from cannabis shoppers crossing the border from Wisconsin.

Ho-Chunk Nation leaders said that they anticipate the tribe “entering the cannabis business once it becomes legal in the state,” according to the Journal Sentinel.

The newspaper said that “tribal law experts say there’s still a legal question about whether tribal nations can allow cannabis sales on federal trust reservation land — land that isn’t subject to local jurisdiction or taxes but still must abide by federal law.”

“The only way to do that would be on tribal trust land/Indian country land, and since federal law still bans cannabis, no, there’s no way,” Matthew Fletcher, a law professor at the University of Michigan told the newspaper. “That doesn’t mean tribes won’t do it, but they are at the complete mercy of the whims of the federal government’s decision to prosecute or not. It’s no way to do business. Same is true even if the state makes it legal.”

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Native American and preservationist advocates are sounding the alarm about an imminent “peyote crisis.” The crisis started decades ago, but recently has been amplified by pharmaceutical interests in mescaline, the psychoactive compound the cactus is known for.

The mescaline-rich spineless cactus, Lophophora williamsii, has been used in sacred rituals for over 5,000 years by American indigenous cultures, but through careless harvesting by recreational users, or worse, mass produced pharmaceutical companies, all of that could soon be lost. In the U.S. the cactus only grows wild in Texas—where it’s been declared an endangered species—as well as Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas in northern Mexico.

The cactus is currently being monetized for either pharmaceutical or recreational use, and indigenous groups like the Native American Church (NAC) are concerned that the sacred plant is being exploited. In the December 1977 issue of High Times, journalist J. F. Burke wrote about his journey with peyote that started in 1957, one of the first in-depth articles about the plant, just as the federal government was making exemptions for a short list of Native Americans. Since then, a lot of hippies, psychonauts, and wannabe shamans have scoured the earth looking for ways to find it.

The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. § 1996.) protects the rights of Native Americans to exercise their traditional religions–including psychedelic sacraments. On Dec. 22, 1981, the Department of Justice reiterated the DEA’s peyote exemption for the NAC, but only bona fide members of the church are included. Only allowing that single church was challenged in 1994 under Peyote Way Church of God, Inc. v. Thornburgh and Congress amended the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to legalize peyote use by all members of Native American tribes.

Vice reported last September Canada-based Lophos Pharma, a publicly-traded company, started to produce the psychoactive cactus for pharmaceutical, not spiritual purposes. Lophos runs a 10,000-square foot facility in Napanee, Ontario. Mescaline itself is illegal under Schedule III of the Canadian drug act, peyote is permitted, so long as the mescaline isn’t extracted from it. But some say even medical purposes are not the way the cactus should be consumed, as it’s considered sacred.

Peyote Advocates Push Back

Colorado-based journalist Annette McGivney has recently been advocating for the preservation of peyote and the sacred ceremonies that surround it.

McGivney told KJZZ that she visited with the two camps of people: “One is, you know, the plant medicine activists and then the pharmaceutical entrepreneurs, so the plant medicine activists had two different responses,” she said. “One was they were totally oblivious to the Native American worldview and why it would not be OK with them for someone to just grow a peyote cactus in their home greenhouse. They had no idea or they were coming up with their own justification saying, ‘Well, it’s not interfering with Native American spirituality because we’re growing the cactus ourselves. So we’re not taking it away from its natural habitat.’ And they kind of come up with their own justification, ignoring what Native Americans were actually saying, that that was a problem.”

Companies like Lophos Pharma, which is growing peyote legally in Canada, as well as researchers in the U.S. are also a threat to the sanctity Native American religious ceremonies.

“And then the pharmaceutical industry has their own justifications about why they’re not infringing on Native American spirituality, which is they’re using synthetic mescaline. So they’re creating chemical compounds in a lab that clone the cactus, the psychoactive substance. So they’re saying that’s OK because we’re not actually using the cactus, but for Native Americans and their worldview around interconnectedness and respecting the sovereignty of plants as well as humans. They say it’s not OK to clone our sacred cactus.”

Last month McGivney also wrote for The Guardian about the same issue. In Window Rock, Arizona, members of the Navajo Nation, called the Diné partake of azeé (peyote). “How would Christians feel if Jesus Christ was cloned?” Justin Jones, a Diné peyote practitioner and legal counsel for the NAC asked The Guardian. “And while the real Jesus is protected, people could do whatever they wanted to the clone.”

The NAC is the same church Burke explored in the 1950’s. Other Native American healers and shamans echoed the same response, saying that cloning or mass-producing peyote is fundamentally wrong from their context.

“I’m all for healing,” said Cora Maxx-Phillips, a social worker, member of the Navajo Nation human rights commission and board member of the Council of Peyote Way of Life Coalition, a Navajo Nation grassroots group. “But don’t do it at the expense of our people, who are trying to survive the multigenerational trauma inflicted upon us. Please, leave us alone.”

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Two members of the Navajo Nation were charged by tribal prosecutors on Jan. 4 for illegal cultivation of cannabis on tribal land. According to the Navajo-Hopi Observer, which covered the news on Jan. 9, the case involved Dineh Benally (described as a person of business) and Farley BlueEyes (a farmer) who operated a grow operation “in and around” Shiprock, New Mexico.

In 2020, a Navajo judge granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in an attempt to stop the farm from operating. At the time, Benally was charged with “interference with judicial proceedings,” according to the Navajo-Hopi Observer report. Benally’s attorney David Jordan, made claims that those interference charges were dismissed in December 2023, and that “It very much feels like harassment.”

Benally told his attorney that he was growing hemp and provided no further comments. Authorities have been unable to locate BlueEyes, who doesn’t have a telephone listing, and no one has stepped up to represent them.

One of the primary concerns about the farm’s intent has been the use of illegal labor. In 2020, police discovered Chinese immigrant workers trimming cannabis plants in a motel. Which prompted a raid on the farms and the destruction of approximately 250,000 plants. A group of those Chinese workers are now suing Benally, claiming that he brought them to New Mexico and forced them to trim for long hours.

Benally previously held a license to cultivation in Torrance County, New Mexico as well under the name Native American Agricultural Development Company, but it was revoked last week alongside another farm called Bliss Farm (unrelated to Benally or the charges). According to Los Alamos Daily Post, the Native American Agricultural Development Company incurred eight violations, including “exceeding the allowable number of cannabis plants under the Cannabis Regulation Act, improper security measures, no chain of custody procedures, and ill-maintained grounds with trash and pests throughout.”

Cannabis Control Division compliance officers found evidence of a recent harvest, but no such harvest was recorded in the state track and trace system. “The illicit activity conducted at both of these farms undermines the good work that many cannabis businesses are doing across the state,” said New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department Acting Superintendent Clay Bailey. “The excessive amount of illegal cannabis plants and other serious violations demonstrates a blatant disregard for public health and safety, and for the law.”

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren commented on the illegal activity. “Anyone coming into our communities who seeks to harm the [Navajo] Nation or our Navajo people will be held accountable under my administration, no matter who they are,” Nygren said.

Benally ran for Navajo Nation President in 2018, which at the time he campaigned for the benefits of hemp growth and production, and a slogan that read “Let’s grow together.”

In Northern California last July, Mendocino County law enforcement raided a cannabis cultivation operation on Round Valley Indian Tribe land and destroyed 113,361 plants on claims that it was operating illegally. The owner of the farm, Gary Cordova, responded by suing the sheriff’s department, claiming that he was operating legally and that the department trespassed on his land and violated his civil rights. According to a report by SFGate, tribal law requires law enforcement to contact tribal police before any raids occur, and before cannabis plants or products are destroyed. In this case, Mendocino County law enforcement did not notify the tribe before acting.

Meanwhile, other tribal nations have also been taking advantage of the cannabis industry in other parts of the U.S. The Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe in South Dakota was the first tribe in the nation to legalize cannabis following a Department of Justice memo published back in 2014.

Over time, more tribes began to see the potential of cannabis legalization. In 2020, the Ogala Sioux tribe in South Dakota began to discuss and vote for cannabis legalization, the Eastern Shoshone Native American tribe in Wyoming began to plan for medical cannabis, and both the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe in New York and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan established their own respective partnerships with cannabis companies.

Last July, the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota started selling recreational cannabis as of August 1, 2023. Red Lake Nation Tribal Secretary Sam Strong, referencing the benefits of cannabis to tackle opioid abuse, described the move to “not only to reduce harm, but to also bring in resources to help our people recover.”

In September 2023, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina voted to legalize recreational cannabis on tribal land. The decision uniquely allowed the tribe to create the first legal dispensary in North Carolina, while both medical and recreational cannabis remain illegal. Most recently, the Oneida Indian Nation in New York officially opened its first dispensary across from the tribe’s casino last week.

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As the New York cannabis market continues to steadily find its footing among a number of delays, the state’s governor has vetoed a measure that would have provided solutions for growers with a surplus of product without means to sell it.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Michelle Hinchey (D) and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D), would have allowed licensed growers to sell their products to tribal retailers. The sponsors, who respectively chair the state Senate and Assembly agriculture committees, shared that the veto by Gov. Kathy Hochul wasn’t a shocking move, despite the fact that the legislation was first approved back in June.

“We offered a way for some of the oversupply of cannabis grown by NY’s farmers to be sold to NY’s Tribal Nations,” Hinchey and Lupardo said in a statement. “Given the fact that this temporary measure would have expired on December 31st anyway, the veto is hardly a surprise.”

Broad Support Amongst New York Lawmakers

In September, lawmakers appealed to Hochul to emphasize the hundreds of farmers struggling to sell their crops because of the limited number of open dispensaries in the state. Sixty-six members of the legislature, about a third of New York’s state lawmakers, had sent a letter urging Hochul to sign the measure.

“Right now, there are over 200 cannabis farmers trying to sell their crops but only 23 dispensaries open statewide,” the bipartisan Senate and Assembly members wrote in September. “This has resulted in more than 250,000 pounds of unsold cannabis. Farmers who took out loans and leveraged all their assets to cultivate these crops are demoralized and facing financial disaster unless we act quickly to provide them with an alternate market.”

The legislation was formally transmitted to Gov. Hochul earlier in December, and she vetoed them on Friday, Marijuana Moment reports.

In their statement reacting to the veto, the sponsors also emphasized the pressing nature of this issue, saying that New York’s farmers “remain financially ruined by circumstances beyond their control,” adding that they will remain committed to helping these farmers and processors “that NY’s legal cannabis industry depends on in any way possible.”

A Long-Delayed Adult-Use Cannabis Market

It’s just one of many setbacks surrounding New York’s long standing effort to get the state’s recreational cannabis market up and moving. The Empire State first legalized adult-use cannabis in March 2021, but in the months since, the market’s full launch has been delayed by a slew of regulatory delays, legal issues and a hefty illicit market looking to fill the gap.

“Regulatory delays, lawsuits, and logistical and financing challenges have caused the state to miss its timelines and targets,” the September letter said. “However, cultivators are the group paying the steepest price.”

The market officially opened last December, and by the end of this year, New York is expected to have at least 37 adult-use dispensaries open for business.

While 2023 showed more progress than the years preceding it, lawmakers emphasized that growers are still suffering due to a surplus of products with nowhere to legally sell them. 

“New York’s cannabis farmers, who went out on a limb to help get the state’s legal market off the ground, should not be facing financial ruin because of regulatory delays,” the lawmakers said. “We should be giving them every possible opportunity to stay afloat while they await the development of the market they were promised.”

Largely, this year saw a number of lawsuits reach settlement, paving the way for more shops to open and for the trend to continue through 2024. Still, lawmakers in favor of the legislation argued that the continued delays are hurting the state’s farmers, who continue to wait for solutions as the market slowly inches forward.

“Crops were grown last year with the understanding that there would be a legal market for them to sell it… We are urging the governor to quickly sign this short-term solution, one that will help provide some measure of relief to what is quickly becoming an agricultural emergency,” the letter states.

Awaiting Solutions in the Midst of Farmers’ Woes

A sponsor memo attached to the bill references that growers were informed they would not be permitted to sell cannabis outside of state lines, though it also points out that they were expecting that New York’s “robust state market would exist during the conditional license time frame.” Crops are now losing their potency, color and terpene profile in storage, ultimately reducing their value if and when producers can finally sell it, the memo notes.

A New York grower’s showcase provided some relief for farmers with surplus products throughout 2023, leading to a total of 48 events with most open one or more days weekly. The current permit ends on Dec. 31, 2023, and while a possible extension was in play until recently, the future status of these markets remains undetermined.

While New York’s market continues to lag, tribal governments have stayed ahead of the curb, as the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe accepted the first adult-use license applications just months after the state first legalized recreational cannabis in 2021.

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The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) is continuing its path toward cannabis accessibility, and as of last week the tribe officially issued its first medical cannabis cards.

According to EBCI Cannabis Control Board (CCB) executive director, Neil Denman, a Cherokee Police Commission monthly meeting was held on Oct. 12. In a presentation featuring Denman and his colleague, Kym Parker, they stated that the first medical cannabis card was issued on that day, and many more will follow in the coming weeks. A total of 1,005 medical cannabis card applications were submitted, and so far 817 were approved. Only 129 are labeled as incomplete, due to missing assets such as a photo ID, and 59 were denied because of “lack of a qualifying ailment.”

The EBCI live on a 57,000-acre reservation called the Qualla Boundary. The tribe’s website states that they have 14,000 registered tribe members, but the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the reservation is home to 9,600 people, 77% of whom are of Indian descent, and 23% non-Indian. The boundary is also home to two casinos that the tribe manages.

The topic of transporting cannabis to its dispensary was called into question by Vice Chairman Joseph Buddy Johnson. For this to happen, the cannabis products must be moved on a state highway through Swain County. According to Denman, they are coordinating with Swain County to put together a transportation plan.

The EBCI dispensary hasn’t opened yet, so the medical cannabis cards can’t be used. When the program becomes fully operational, the cards will limit how much daily and/or weekly cannabis that patients can purchase. Should a patient violate those rules, their card will be either suspended or revoked. The cards can also be used by off-boundary members who seek to grow their own cannabis plants at home.

Currently there are plans for only one cultivation site at the moment, which is still under construction. In total, the grow will feature 42 hoop houses that will hold 2,040 plants. Eventually, they hope to expand their hoop house number to 69-70. Johnson inquired about plans for a second cultivation site, but Denman explained that the first site is the focus for now.

Originally, the EBCI Tribal Council voted to decriminalize cannabis, as well as legalize medical cannabis back in 2021—a historic event considering that this was accomplished prior to the state of North Carolina making significant progress to legalize medical cannabis.

By November 2022, EBCI had harvested its first cannabis crop. “It’s a vertical market. We have to plant it. We have to cultivate it. We have to harvest it. We have to process it. We have to package it and move through all of that network of product and get it there. It’s a lot of people,” said Qualla Enterprises LLC general manager, Forrest Parker. One month later, the EBCI Tribal Council agreed to provide Qualla Enterprises with $63 million to properly regulate medical cannabis. “This tribe, I’m so proud of us for putting us in a position to learn from other people’s mistakes so that when we do this right, that number is precise,” Parker said. “It’s not $150 million because we’re trying to cover all these things that we don’t know. We actually feel like we actually know.”

In January 2023, the tribe announced that it would be moving forward with its plans to regulate medical cannabis on the reservation. The council voted to introduce their prepared regulations to the North Carolina General Assembly. Principal Chief Richard Sneed spoke at the meeting where the 12-person council approved the regulations, stating that it is of the utmost importance to keep the state legislature in the know. “All this is, is it as a matter of tribal law, before anybody does any work engaging with the state or federal legislature, we have to have permission of the governing legislative body to do so,” Sneed said.

In another record decision on Sept. 7, the EBCI tribe members voted in favor of a proposal to permit the sale of recreational cannabis on tribal land as well. “The Council’s approval of a medical marijuana ordinance is a testament to the changing attitudes toward legal marijuana and a recognition of the growing body of evidence that supports cannabis as medicine, particularly for those with debilitating conditions like cancer and chronic pain,” said Sneed. Now the council will move forward with developing legislation to regulate legal cannabis.

The Qualla Boundary is currently the only area of North Carolina where medical or recreational cannabis is legal. In July, Senate Bill 3 was introduced, which would have legalized medical cannabis for patients with life-ending illness. While the bill was initially passed in the Senate earlier this year, it didn’t receive support in the House.

However, House Speaker Tim Moore announced that the bill was likely dead for 2023. In order for it to pass, it “would require a number of House members who’ve taken a position of ‘no’ to literally switch their position to want to vote for it, and I just don’t see that happening,” Moore explained.

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Two cannabis bills were recently sent to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and if passed, would work in tandem to allow the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) to do business with local Native American cannabis businesses, and vice versa.

Currently, state licensed cannabis and tribal cannabis businesses must operate separately from one another and cannot trade or do business with one another. Senate Bill 179 and Senate Bill 180 would permit these two distinct parts of the industry to interact.

“According to committee testimony, the marijuana industry regulated by the CRA and businesses operated by tribal members on tribal lands are currently in two separate silos, meaning that product cannot be sold between these businesses,” the analysis stated. “The bills are intended to allow for the sale of product between the two types of businesses while maintaining a level playing field by requiring tribal businesses to pay the same tax rate as other businesses.”

SB-180, sponsored by Sen. Roger Hauck, would allow the CRA to enter into an agreement with a Native American tribe “regarding marijuana-related regulatory issues that involve the interests of Michigan and the Indian tribe, including those related to the commercial growing, processing, sale, testing, transportation, and possession of marijuana.” Tribal businesses would be exempt from the 10% state excise tax on cannabis but would instead implement a tribal tax of 10% instead.

It also includes a section clearly stating that it is not unlawful to conduct these agreements. “The act currently provides that certain acts performed by licensees are not unlawful; not an offense; not grounds for seizing or forfeiting property; not grounds for arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner; not grounds for search or inspection except as authorized by the act; and not grounds to deny any other right or privilege.”

SB-179, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Irwin, amends state law to give a portion of state cannabis tax revenue to tribes who allow state licensed cannabis business on their land. “The bill would provide that, if a marijuana retailer or microbusiness is located in Indian lands, the portions of the unexpended balances attributable to the marijuana retailer or microbusiness that would otherwise have been allocated to a municipality and a county as described above must instead be allocated to the Indian tribe in whose Indian lands the marijuana retailer or microbusiness is located.”

Both SB-180 and SB-179 must be passed in order for them to take effect. The Native American tribes in support of this include the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, as well as the CRA, Common Citizen (a Michigan-based cannabis brand), and Michigan Cannabis Industry Authority.

Numerous other cannabis- or psychedelic-related bills have also been working through the legislature recently. In July, the Michigan Civil Service Commission adopted a rule to stop cannabis drug screenings for most state government employees. Commission member Nick Ciaramitaro explained that it’s long overdue to implement the new rule. “Whether or not we agree with it or not is kind of beyond the point,” said Ciaramitaro. “Use of marijuana on the job is different than having used it months before you take the test … It doesn’t make sense to limit our ability to hire qualified people because they took a gummy two weeks ago.” The rule took place starting on Oct. 1.

In September, Michigan legislators passed a resolution and asked congress, the Department of Defense, and Department of Veterans Affairs to “prioritize research and investment in non-technology treatment options for servicemembers and veterans who have psychological trauma as a result of military service.”

The resolution also addresses how “effective treatment options for these conditions vary from servicemember to servicemember” when it comes to psychedelic treatments. 

It also adds the importance of supporting veterans’ family members as well, stating that “resources should be made available to help them understand and assist their loved ones who may be suffering from psychological trauma. Family members of servicemembers or veterans with behavioral health problems may experience family violence and aggression, lower parenting satisfaction, and child behavior problems.”

A new bill introduced earlier this month focuses on cannabis for students kindergarten through 12th grade. If passed, it would allow cannabis to be on campus for medical use, as long as two medical professionals have provided written permission. Additionally, teachers would oversee administering the medicine.

In August, the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency reported cannabis revenue was at record-highs, having collected $276 million in sales for the month of July. Despite high sales numbers, many cannabis businesses have reported low profits. National Cannabis Industry Association’s senior economist, Beau Whitney, explained the effects of new licenses being approved, creating endless competition. “It’s kind of a race to the bottom, as they call it,” said Whitney. “Prices are going down, down and down because there’s so much competition, but at some point, prices won’t be able to go down any further.” 

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Sales of regulated adult-use cannabis began in Minnesota on Tuesday with the launch of recreational marijuana sales at a dispensary located on the Red Lake Nation’s tribal lands. 

The Red Lake Nation’s foray into the adult-use cannabis market on tribal lands in northwestern Minnesota coincided with the statewide legalization of recreational marijuana. Under legislation approved by state lawmakers and Governor Tim Walz in May, possession of cannabis by adults 21 and older was legalized on August 1, although sales of recreational marijuana at state-licensed dispensaries are not expected to begin until 2025. But as sovereign nations, Minnesota’s Native American communities have the option of regulating cannabis production and sales on tribal lands. 

“It’s one of the few advantages that tribal nations have had, an edge on everybody else,” Jerry Loud, who manages operations at the Red Lakes Nation dispensary NativeCare, told WCCO News. “So we’re going to capitalize on this.”

NativeCare was established after the tribe legalized medical marijuana in 2020. The shop began welcoming adult-use cannabis customers on Tuesday, allowing tribal members and non-members aged 21 and up to purchase limited amounts of cannabis products. Tribal Secretary Sam Strong said he barely slept Monday night, anticipating Minnesota’s launch of regulated cannabis sales and the end of marijuana “prohibition.”

“It’s a big day,” Strong said. “It’s the end of this war on drugs that was really meant to repress minorities. So it’s only fitting that the Native American tribes are participating in this industry — we’ve been harmed most by the war on drugs. Now it’s time to flip that script and create an economic development venture that can help heal our community.”

Minnesota Legalized Weed In May

Walz signed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana on May 30, making the state the 23rd in the nation to legalize cannabis for adults. The bill, which was approved by the Minnesota legislature on May 20, allows adults 21 and older to use marijuana recreationally and to possess up to two ounces of cannabis in a public place, going into effect on August 1.

The legislation also legalizes the possession of up to two pounds of marijuana in a private residence and the limited home cultivation of cannabis by adults aged 21 and older. Under the legislation, adults are allowed to grow up to eight cannabis plants at home, including four mature, flowering plants and four immature plants.

Minnesota’s marijuana legalization bill also legalizes commercial cannabis activity, with regulated sales of recreational marijuana coming after rules are drafted and approved by the Office of Cannabis Management, a new state agency created by the legislation. The new agency will also regulate medical marijuana and cannabis products derived from hemp.

State agencies have set a target date of May 2024 to begin accepting applications for adult-use cannabis retailers, with dispensary sales of recreational marijuana anticipated to start in January 2025. Once regulated sales of recreational marijuana begin, adults will be permitted to purchase up to two ounces of cannabis, eight grams of cannabis concentrate and edible products containing up to 800 milligrams of THC, the cannabis compound largely responsible for the classic marijuana “high.”

Native American Dispensaries Taking First Shot At Market

The Red Lake Nation and at least one additional Native American community are taking the lead on regulated sales of adult-use cannabis with their own enterprises. Charles Goodwin, an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation, made the first recreational purchase at the tribe’s dispensary. He told the Star Tribune that the day was a “long time coming” and that the dispensary is a “huge step forward” for the community.

At least one other Native American community also plans to regulate sales of adult-use cannabis on tribal lands. Last week, the Tribal Council for the White Earth Nation, also in northwestern Minnesota, voted to legalize recreational marijuana, with sales of cannabis beginning at a dispensary on its tribal lands expected to begin in the first half of August. White Earth Chairman Michael Fairbanks said that selling cannabis grown on the reservation represents a significant opportunity for the tribe. He expects the enterprise to be able to produce high-quality cannabis and sell for prices that are lower than the coming competition.

“It’s good not just for our constituents, but it’s good for all Minnesotans,” Fairbanks said in a statement to the Minnesota Reformer.

The citizens of White Earth Nation voted in 2020 to legalize medical marijuana and planned to open its dispensary in Mahnomen, about 35 miles north of Detroit Lakes, to patients on Monday. Sales of recreational marijuana to tribal members and non-members aged 21 and up are slated to begin shortly thereafter.

However, the tribal dispensaries selling recreational marijuana will not be convenient for most Minnesotans. The reservations for both Ojibwe tribes are not near the state’s largest population centers, requiring a drive of more than three hours from Duluth and four hours or more from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

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An engrossing new story published on Tuesday sheds light on the impact of Peru’s exploding cocaine trade on the country’s Indigenous people. 

The story, published by Al Jazeera, opens with Fernando Aroni, a 41-year-old leader of a village of Amahuaca people, one of the Indigenous tribes in the Amazon Basin of Peru, arriving by canoe at a police outpost.

“Inside, dead bats litter the broken floorboards, and a sign on the wall bearing Peru’s national emblem, emblazoned with the words ‘God, Country and Law’ blisters and peels. The outpost stands at the 38th boundary line, a remote stretch of Amazon rainforest demarcating Peru’s border with Brazil,” the story begins. 

Aroni explains that the “police checkpoint has been abandoned for over 10 years,” and that absence has been exploited by drug smugglers.

“We’ve been forgotten by the Peruvian authorities,” Aroni told Al Jazeera.

More from the story:

“Along the untamed edge of Peru’s Ucayali department, the cultivation of coca — the raw ingredient in cocaine — is surging. A metastasised drug trade, once concentrated within the folds of the Andes, has descended into this lowland jungle region, threatening the reserves of some of the world’s most isolated tribespeople. Narcotics experts and Indigenous communities blame an anemic state security apparatus, whose absence along its borders has created “an open door” for the accelerating drug trade…Today, as the drug trade rips through this isolated frontier, the Amahuaca — along with thousands of other remote Indigenous people — are once again in the throes of invasion.”

Cocaine trafficking in the Andean country has soared in recent years. According to Reuters, Peru “seized a record 86.4 tonnes of drugs and illicit substances last year, 28 tonnes of which were cocaine hydrochloride.” Al Jazeera reported this week that, from 2021-2022, “the land used to farm coca climbed by 18 percent, reaching record high levels” in Peru.

In March, Peruvian law enforcement seized more than two tons of cocaine –– valued at about $20 million –– that was bound for Turkey. 

“This is the first incident that we know of (in which the cargo was in) Peruvian ports and its final destination was Turkey. Usually we are aware of ports in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France,” said Colonel Luis Angel Bolanos, the police chief of the Peruvian port where the bust took place.

Last year, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issued a report detailing “estimates of coca cultivation and potential cocaine production for the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Peru, and the Plurinational State of Bolivia.”

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to continuing close cooperation with our partners in South America to address our shared challenge of drug production, trafficking and use,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of ONDCP, said at the time. “As part of President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy, we are pursuing policies that expand access to the continuum of care for substance use, go after drug traffickers and their profits, and also address the root causes of participation in the illicit economy in coca-growing areas, such as poverty, insecurity, and the lack of access to services.”

The report said that the U.S. “recognizes the Government of Peru’s commitment to reduce coca cultivation and cocaine production.”

“Estimated coca cultivation and cocaine production in Peru decreased but remained high at 84,400 hectares and 785 metric tons, respectively,” the report said. “The current level of coca cultivation highlights the importance of returning to pre-pandemic levels of eradication, while investing in a holistic approach that seeks to bring safety, security, and opportunity to rural Peruvians.”

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In Minnesota, the Red Lake Nation council recently voted on July 11 to legalize adult-use cannabis starting on August 1. After that date, cannabis will be legal to purchase both for tribe and non-tribe members.

Legal recreational cannabis will become purchasable across Minnesota starting on August 1, although retail dispensaries will not be allowed to open for 12 to 18 months. First, state officials must create a regulatory foundation for dispensary licensing.

According to the Minnesota Reformer, the Red Lake Nation already has an operating medical cannabis dispensary, called NativeCare. After August 1, NativeCare will begin selling recreational cannabis, which puts the tribe in a unique position to benefit to become the state’s first recreational dispensary.

The only caveat is that the Red Lake Nation is located in the state’s Northern region. It’s about 30 minutes from Bemidji (south of Red Lake Nation), approximately three hours from Moorhead (on the western border) and Duluth (located on the eastern border), and four hours from the Twin Cities—aka Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the state’s two largest cities.

According to Red Lake Nation tribal secretary Sam Strong, selling legal cannabis offers many benefits for its tribal members. “We see this as a resource not only to reduce harm, but to also bring in resources to help our people recover,” Strong said in regard to cannabis’ ability to curb opioid addiction. Currently, the Red Lake Nation prohibits alcohol use on the reservation.

Strong also added that the tribe’s medical cannabis already meets state quality standards, including tests that verify it is free of contaminants. More information will be shared for cannabis consumers before the end of July.

On May 30, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed legislation to make Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize recreational cannabis. “We’ve known for too long that prohibiting the use of cannabis hasn’t worked. By legalizing adult-use cannabis, we’re expanding our economy, creating jobs, and regulating the industry to keep Minnesotans safe,” Walz said at the bill signing ceremony. “Legalizing adult-use cannabis and expunging or resentencing cannabis convictions will strengthen communities. This is the right move for Minnesota.”

However, he cautioned that state officials will need some time to get things rolling. “We’ll be getting some people into the positions to be able to run this,” Walz continued. “But I assure Minnesotans that a lot of thought has gone into this. A lot of the things learned in other states are incorporated into how we do this, and the thoughtfulness around this legislation gives us a really good guiding principle.”

In June, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had announced that state tribes could get ahead with the pending cannabis legalization sales date. “I have toured the facility up in White Earth. It is a world class operation,” Walz said about the White Earth Nation tribe. “They have thought deeply about this.” According to the state’s recreational cannabis law, the governor can negotiate compacts with state tribes if they seek to take advantage of cannabis sales, but also “acknowledges the sovereign right of Minnesota Tribal governments” to regulate their cannabis industries even without a compact.

Early projections of Minnesota’s cannabis industry show that it could collect more than $1.5 billion per year by 2029, with more than 700,000 adult-use and medical cannabis patients in the state. Part of the newly passed recreational cannabis law allows low-dose hemp-derived THC beverages to be sold in liquor stores.

A handful of other Native American tribes across the U.S. that have embraced medical and/or recreational cannabis. In December 2020, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York formed a partnership with MMJ BioPharma Cultivation with the intention of dedicating 20 acres of land to cannabis cultivation. In July 2021, the South Dakota-based Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe was the first in the U.S. to legalize cannabis after the Department of Justice published a cannabis memo back in 2014.

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