Pubdate: Sat, 31 Oct 2015
Source: Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
Copyright: 2015 Lincoln Journal Star
Contact:  http://www.journalstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/561
Author: Kevin Abourezk

OMAHA TRIBE TO CONSIDER LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska is considering getting into the lucrative 
marijuana business, but at least one tribal expert fears doing so 
could put the tribe at risk of losing any investment it may make in 
marijuana industries.

The tribe plans to hold a referendum Tuesday in which members will 
vote on whether the tribe should allow recreational use of marijuana, 
medicinal use of marijuana, and growing industrial hemp on its 
northeast Nebraska reservation.

Ultimately, however, the Omaha tribal council will decide all three 
questions. The referendum vote simply will give the council guidance 
on whether to move forward, according to an information sheet 
distributed by the tribe.

Tribal law expert Lance Morgan, who also is president and CEO of 
Ho-Chunk Inc., the Winnebago Tribe's economic development arm, said 
it likely will be difficult for the Omaha Tribe to legalize the use 
or manufacture of marijuana on its reservation, despite a U.S. 
Department of Justice memo issued last year that some tribal 
advocates have argued grants tribes the right to legalize use of 
marijuana on their reservations.

Morgan said the federal memo doesn't actually allow tribes to 
legalize marijuana. Rather, he said, it allows them to work with 
local U.S. attorneys to do so. And, he said, U.S. attorneys in many 
states have been unwilling to allow tribes to move forward.

"I think the government should be more direct in whether it's 
allowable or not," he said.

Morgan said it will be especially difficult for tribes in Nebraska to 
legalize marijuana, considering the firm stance Nebraska Attorney 
General Doug Peterson has taken against it. Spokeswoman Suzanne Gage 
declined to comment Friday on the referendum.

Recent federal raids of tribal hemp operations seem to further 
demonstrate the uncertain legal foundation upon which tribes have 
begun building hemp and marijuana operations.

In July, federal agents raided the Pit River Tribe and the Alturas 
Indian Rancheria in California and seized 12,000 plants. And on Oct. 
23, they raided the Menominee Indian Tribe's Wisconsin reservation, 
destroying 30,000 cannabis plants.

Morgan said the ambiguous Justice Department memo has encouraged 
tribes across the country to launch expensive marijuana and hemp 
operations, and now some of those tribes have discovered they don't 
actually have the right to legalize marijuana.

"This is just one of the dumbest things I've ever seen come out of 
D.C.," Morgan said. "Encouraging us to invest capital and then coming 
in and destroying that capital and raiding the tribe doesn't make any 
sense at all."

Morgan said the Winnebago Tribe has discussed legalized marijuana but 
has no plans to move forward with such a plan.

He sees the Omaha Tribe's plan to gauge opinion through a referendum 
as a good idea.

"The only way tribes are going to do it is if they hold a 
referendum," he said. "Then they know what the people think and can 
act accordingly."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom