More tribes will test cannabis sovereignty

The Oglala Sioux Tribe in occupied South Dakota, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Nations in occupied Wyoming are nearing votes on legal cannabis.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana and the Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma teamed up and bought 1,020 acres of ranchland north and east of Mato Paha (Bear Butte) adding significantly to their holdings West River. Last year the Oglala Lakota Oyate bought off-reservation property on I-90 just outside Badlands National Park. The Fort Peck Tribes in occupied Montana have legalized therapeutic cannabis and the Northern Cheyenne have been mulling the concept. As co-owners of Pe'Sla the Minnesota-based Shakopee Mdewakanton Nation could bring that state's medical cannabis and reproductive rights freedoms to the Black Hills. Lower Brule has struggled with synthetic cannabinoids but that community has off-reservation property in Fort Pierre to test their sovereignty. Legalization, inspections and regulation of a product that so many people enjoy is reasonable public policy that would align with our life safety goals.

A 1986 amendment to federal law allows tribes to acquire off-reservation land to serve the needs of its people. 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.

The moves are considered tests of Trump Organization resolve where Republican US Attorneys would be pitted against sovereign nations.

A proposal that would have empowered tribes and pueblos in New Mexico to develop therapeutic cannabis programs failed legislative approval this year.