Tribal nations growing industrial cannabis in South Dakota are violating state law

The Dakota Progressive believes the road to legal cannabis for all adults in South Dakota is paved with hemp and that tribal nations trapped in my home state should be the primary beneficiaries of industry growth there. South Dakota's pot queen has even claimed Attorney General and suspected incel Jason Ravnsborg supports cannabis reform.

The tribes are already growing in SD and have contracts with huge hemp companies & grocery stores. Ravnsborg supports legalization. [Melissa Mentele]

But yesterday the US Department of Agriculture released a memo containing some bad news for tribes in South Dakota.

Under the 2014 Farm Bill, an Indian tribe can enter into a partnership or contract with an institution of higher education or a State department of agriculture both within or in a different State than the one in which the Indian tribe is located to produce industrial hemp on the tribe’s land. For an Indian tribe to be eligible to do so, the State in which the Indian tribe is located and the State in which the institution of higher education or State department of agriculture is located both must allow the production of industrial hemp. The law remains unchanged in that Indian tribes, individuals, and entities located in States that do not permit hemp production are ineligible to participate in the growing or cultivation of hemp under the 2014 Farm Bill program. [USDA Clarifies Industrial Hemp Production for Indian Tribes]

Observers are about to see whether Governor Krusti Krispi Kristi Noem will actually try to crush the industry when AG Ravnsborg sues US Attorney for the District of South Dakota Ron Parsons if grow/ops on the reservation are allowed to survive.

The never ending wall of hemp I am tasked with cutting down to make way for prairie grass #helpme ;) pic.twitter.com/0cEyqQYjaY

— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) June 27, 2015