Many tribes that qualify to offer gaming may also be able to expand into another area of the “entertainment” industry, growing marijuana, although technically that’s actually a medical use.
Several months ago the U.S. Justice Department advised tribes that it won’t prosecute them for growing marijuana on the reservation since tribes, like states, have a sovereign right to determine if growing the narcotic plant is legal, despite federal laws against its traffic, interstate smuggling, sale to minors and “drugged driving.”
That Justice Department ruling is discretionary, and doesn’t bind future administrations, or even the current one.
Recently representatives from 75 tribes met in Washington State for the Tribal Marijuana Conference.
Ken Meshiqaud, chairman of the Hannahville Indian Community was quoted by the Associated Press, “From an economic standpoint, it may be a good venture the tribes can get into.”
The challenge for tribes will be to craft marijuana growing policies that don’t get them into trouble with the Justice Department and to avoid violating state law as well. Public Law 280 gives 15 states jurisdiction over crimes committed on tribal lands.
In a state like California, which is a Public Law 280 state, but has adopted laws basically decriminalizing pot use, that won’t be a problem. However it might be in Florida, also a Public Law 280 state, which has a strict law against any kind of marijuana use.
Tribes might find it profitable to grow the plant in parts of a state where growing is generally legal, but where municipalities can adopt laws against it. Such laws would not bind a sovereign reservation.
Even in states that have legalized the plant, such as Washington and Colorado, but tax it, tribes can make money by offering it without state taxes attached. Tribes might also be able to profit by establishing marijuana “cafes” where it would be served along with food and beverages, as it is done in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Tribal casinos, like many commercial casinos, have long been havens from state smoking laws. One could easily imagine them allowing total or limited marijuana smoking within certain sections of the casino.
A further advantage is that tribes are generally exempt from paying U.S. income taxes on profits made from farming.
Meanwhile, three Maine tribes, the Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs say they are studying legalizing and possibly cultivating pot on their reservations.
Rep. Henry John Bear, a nonvoting representative of the tribe in the Maine legislature, told the Press Herald, “We are looking from a health perspective as well as an economic perspective into the potential. We are gathering information about it. We have tribal members who are very interested in pursuing this. I have been approached by these members to get information.”
Recently Indian Country Today reported that the first California tribe to grow medical marijuana will be the Pinoleville Pomo Nation. It will break ground on a huge $10 million greenhouse within weeks.
Some Indian tribes in Canada are also looking at possible cultivation of marijuana, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2000.
Meanwhile, an Alabama tribe which has been using the possibility of growing pot in Florida as a lever to get that state’s Governor Rick Scott to negotiate a gaming compact with it, admitted last week that it actually has no plans to start farming.
Stephanie Bryan, Poarch chairman, recently wrote, “Let me clarify, though: While it appears that we are legally entitled to do so, we have no plans to grow marijuana on our land.
“We do have plans to replicate in Florida what we have done in Alabama — create jobs and economic security, add to the tax base and fiscal strength of our state, and be good and charitable neighbors.”
