Pubdate: Mon, 22 Dec 2014
Source: Morning Sun (Mt. Pleasant, MI)
Copyright: 2014 Morning Sun
Contact:   http://www.themorningsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3938
Author: Susan Field

MARIJUANA DECISION WON'T AFFECT TRIBE

Reservation Will Continue Zero Tolerance Policy

A decision by the United States Department of Justice that will allow 
for the sale and growth of marijuana on Native lands will not affect 
the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

Tribal Spokesman Frank Cloutier said there is a zero tolerance 
ordinance and that the Tribe also does not recognize the medical use 
of marijuana.

Other Native American tribes across the United States are also not on 
board with the idea of growing and selling marijuana despite the 
possible economic benefits and the OK from the federal government.

Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, said he doubts 
tribes will want to take advantage of the OK.

In Grants Pass, Ore., voters earlier this year approved the 
legalization of recreational marijuana, but Gentry said the Klamath 
Tribes have a no drugs and no alcohol policy.

A week ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a new policy to 
allow Indian tribes, which are considered sovereign nations, to grow 
and sell marijuana on tribal lands as long as they follow the same 
federal conditions laid out for states that have decriminalized the 
drug, according to the Associated Press.

In Oregon, Attorney General Amanda Marshall said the policy addresses 
questions raised by Natives about how the legalization of marijuana 
in Oregon, Washington and Colorado would apply to tribes, according to the AP.

Marshall said there is a concern about how the government can help 
Natives protect children and families, businesses and housing, as 
well as marijuana abuse, in Indian Country where states are no longer 
partnering with the federal government to offer assistance.

Another issue is whether the growing and sales of marijuana on Native 
reservations would become a "major bonanza" that would rival the 
income netted in casinos.

Marshall said that three tribes - on each in California, Washington 
and the Midwest, voiced any interest in selling and growing 
marijuana, according to an AP report.

Like the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, the Yakama Nation in 
Washington state does not allow the use of marijuana.

It recently banned the drug on the reservation and is trying to stop 
state regulated marijuana sales and growth on lands off the 
reservation where it holds hunting and fishing rights, according to the AP.

Other tribes are also battling the drug.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe in northern California has fought illegal 
marijuana plantations on its reservation that have damaged the 
environment, according to the AP.

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council in South Dakota this year rejected a 
proposal to allow the drug on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

In Mt. Pleasant, voters in November approved a measure to allow the 
use, possession and transfer of "small amounts" of marijuana, as did 
voters in other municipalities in Michigan and across the country, 
but state and federal law still make marijuana illegal.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom