More tribes are entering the cannabis industry

Aided by a New Mexico firm the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe has opened a big-box cannabis retail store after the State of Nevada legalized. The NuWu Cannabis Marketplace in downtown Las Vegas boasts prices competitive with white-owned shops.

Under a compact with Nevada the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone is taking steps to build its own facility and dispensary.

The Winnemucca Shoshoni, a Nevada tribe, is suing the San Joaquin, California County Board of Supervisors and the US Drug Enforcement Administration after a local police department defied sovereignty and raided that nation's grow/op.

In northwest Wisconsin the St. Croix Chippewa Nation would be the first of the state’s 11 tribes to enter the cannabis marketplace but other tribes are moving to build similar capacity.

Using seed imported from Canada the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota is preparing to harvest its first crop of cannabis.

Standing Rock tribal member, Chase Iron Eyes, is applying the Necessity Defense after his arrest for protecting the tribe's water resources.

Defense attorneys also have tried the necessity defense when people illegally use marijuana, arguing that it was needed to treat a health problem. A 1976 District of Columbia court decision in favor of a person suffering from glaucoma was the first in the country to recognize the defense in a marijuana case, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. [Chicago Daily Law Bulletin]

Meanwhile, in Eagle Butte, South Dakota to protect the health of its members the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution “to prevent and deter people from ingesting mouthwash as an intoxicant."

Alcohol remains the most often drug abused by South Dakotans but the lion's share of funding for treatment from the Trump Organization is going to the law enforcement industry.

Legal cannabis has been a Democratic plank but lately even earth haters are coming around.

Indian casinos are small banks. Let’s ensure that cannabis cultivation and distribution stay out of the hands of Big Dope. It’s time to enter compacts with the tribes, empower them to distribute on the rez, on off-reservation properties and in Deadwood.