Selection of Duhamel for South Dakota's legislature ends non-tribal cannabis

With the selection of law enforcement industry patsy, Helene Duhamel to replace Alan Solano in South Dakota's legislature Governor Kristi Noem has likely ended any chance of industrial cannabis (hemp) outside of the state's nine reservations so on Monday, the 21-person Oglala Sioux Tribal council voted 11-8 to again allow Gov. Noem to visit the sovereign Oglala Lakota nation.

Gov. Kristi Noem has blocked industrial hemp from being grown in the state, but that’s not stopping Native Americans who can regulate their own hemp crops under the 2018 Farm Bill. Many tribes are drawn to hemp’s potential for bringing profits to communities that badly need it. They say that Noem’s resistance is giving them an advantage to getting into the market, even as it may complicate their ability to transport and sell it. [KNBN teevee]

A 1986 amendment to federal law allows tribes to acquire off-reservation land to serve the needs of its people so last year the Oglala Lakota Oyate bought property on I-90 just outside Badlands National Park. The Isanti Dakota Oyate or Flandreau Santee Sioux Nation has also taken steps to resume their cannabis initiative. A former chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate is a tribal liaison for a cannabis development firm and South Dakota Secretary of Tribal Relations Dave Flute is also a former chairman of the SWO.

Two tribes in occupied Wyoming are also pursuing futures in cannabis.

If the political will existed South Dakota's legislature could write a bill that would adopt legislation similar to Minnesota's therapeutic cannabis law but worthy of Federal Drug Administration scrutiny where real medicine could be sold by pharmacies.

It's very brave, even progressive of Noem to give tribes a head start in America's budding cannabis industry but giving the South Dakota Republican Party an opportunity to shape cannabis law in my home state is further evidence Democrats could even lose reservation support.