Pubdate: Mon, 15 Jun 2015
Source: Bismarck Tribune (ND)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.bismarcktribune.com/forms/letters.php
Website: http://www.bismarcktribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/47
Author: James MacPherson,Associated Press

DAKOTAS TRIBAL LEADERS PITCHING POT AS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

(AP) - Marijuana companies in California and Colorado have tabbed 
prominent American Indian leaders from the Dakotas to help prod 
tribes across the nation into the pot business.

Tex Hall, the former chairman of the oil-rich Three Affiliated 
Tribes, and Robert Shepherd, former chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton 
Oyate tribe in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North 
Dakota, are trying to recruit and assist tribes in producing 
high-grade marijuana products.

"Those who want to get in early are the ones who will really 
succeed," said Shepherd, the tribal relations officer for 
Denver-based Monarch America Inc.

With 566 federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States, the 
potential revenue for marijuana businesses is big, even though many 
native leaders remain skeptical, Shepherd said. Elders especially are wary.

"It's hard to deny the medical properties in cannabis," Shepherd 
said. "But the federal government has done a good job of portraying 
it as a horrible drug. There is going to be a huge educational period 
for tribes."

The prospect of pot on tribal land is made possible by a U.S. Justice 
Department decision in December that allows Indian tribes, which are 
considered sovereign nations, to grow and sell marijuana on their 
lands as long as they follow the same federal conditions laid out for 
states that have legalized the drug.

Hall, the former chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes 
in the heart of North Dakota's booming oil patch, and Tim Wright, 
president of Redding, California-based Wright Family Organics LLC, 
announced this month that they have formed a partnership to "provide 
cultivation, manufacturing, dispensing, processing, testing and 
regulatory support" for tribes interested in marijuana businesses on 
reservations.

Hall "has the power of influence, he is a wonderful leader and a 
wonderful spokesperson," Wright said.

Hall did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment.

"Throughout my career, I have fought for advancement and sovereignty 
of Indian tribes," Hall said in a statement. "And a lot of that time 
was focused on economic development because that is what our people 
need and deserve."

Hall is a three-time chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes on the 
Fort Berthold Reservation, which accounts for about a third of the 
1.1 million barrels of oil produced daily in North Dakota. He was 
defeated in the tribal primary last year, after increased criticism 
from tribal members over his personal business dealings, alleged 
conflicts of interests, how his administration spent money earned 
from oil and a lack of transparency in government.

Money from the marijuana enterprises - which backers believe could 
dwarf tribal gambling revenue in time-can be funneled back to the 
tribes to address shrinking federal grant dollars, much of which is 
needed for substance abuse programs in Indian Country, Shepherd said.

Wright and Shepherd said their companies have yet to ink any deals with tribes.

A few other Native Americans also are attempting to get tribes into 
the marijuana business, but Shepherd said he and Hall are likely the 
only ones who have held national-level posts with Indian 
organizations. Shepherd is a former secretary of the National 
Congress of American Indians and Hall has served two terms as 
president of the group that bills itself as the "oldest, largest and 
most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization."

Wright said his company is focusing on tribes in 23 states that have 
laws allowing medical marijuana. In those states, he also sees 
medical marijuana clinics to help native and non-natives deal with 
various maladies, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Pot remains illegal in all forms in the Dakotas.

Sam Deloria, board chairman of the American Indian Law Center in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, said he knows of no tribes that have 
successfully started a marijuana business on tribal land.

Most tribal leaders are split over whether the idea is "marketing 
tribal sovereignty" or "marketing a vice," said Deloria, member of 
the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which straddles the North Dakota-South 
Dakota border.

"Nobody has put together a package yet to get that money without a 
downside," he said. "In a way I'm proud tribes are thinking about 
this but I hope everybody has moral concerns. If I were a tribal 
chairman, I wouldn't do it. It might mean losing the next election."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom