Legality of Qannabis

From Climate Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Turtle Island

Mexico

United States

Sovereign Indigenous Nations

In December 2014 the first federal protections for state regulated Qannabis programs was passed by congress; Prohibiting the Department of Justice interfering with state Qannabis programs. The program would eventually expand to include territories and the District of Columbia. The lawmakers working behind the expansion did not take into account that Indigenous Nations are sovereign nations not territories. The Obama Department of Justice issued the Cole Memo[1] instructing U.S. attorneys to not enforce federal law on state-regulated Qannabis programs. The department of Interior matched the Cole Memo with another memo, the Wilkinson Memo[2], extending federal protections to Indigenous Nations.[3]

Oglala Sioux Nation

In April 2000, Alex White Plume and his family planted industrial hemp on their farm on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In 1998, the Oglala Sioux Nation had passed an ordinance allowing the cultivation of low-THC hemp on the reservation. The Oglala Sioux's 1868 treaty with the United States government enshrines the Nation's right to create its own food and fiber, which legally should have superseded the DEA's prohibition on growing cannabis. At the time, this made White Plume the only farmer within the borders of the Untied States to openly plant, cultivate, and produce a cannabis crop.[4] [5][6]

Despite the legal protections which should have been afforded by tribal sovereignty, federal DEA agents made a surprise raid on his field that August and destroyed his crops.[7] In August 2002, he was served with eight civil charges by the US District Attorney related to the hemp cultivation, and a court order prohibiting continued growing of the crop. This made White Plume's family the only family in the world that had a targeted lifetime restraining order to never grow hemp.[8] Although White Plume appealed, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the DEA, while acknowledging that its registration process could be a burden and that hemp might be a good crop for the Pine Ridge Reservation.[9][10]

After several movements leading to the legalization of marijuana for both recreational and medical, White Plume was able to get the injunction lifted in 2016[11] and is today recognized for his leadership in the New Green Revolution.[12]

Picuris Pueblo Nation

In November of 2017 drug enforcement agents with the Bureau of Indian affairs entered the sovereign land of the Picuris Pueblo Nation and pulled up approximately twenty medical Qannabis plants. In December of 2021 agents would enter the sovereign land again pulling up nine medical Qannabis plants being grown at the home of a medical Qannabis patient.[13] The raids happened despite New Mexico legalizing medical Qannabis in 2007[14] and legalizing recreational use in 2021.[15]

Canada

Sources

  1. ↑ https://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/3052013829132756857467.pdf
  2. ↑ https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/tribal/pages/attachments/2014/12/11/policystatementregardingmarijuanaissuesinindiancountry2.pdf
  3. ↑ https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/05/tribes-marijuana-laws-00022899
  4. ↑ https://cbdoiled.com/modern-hemp-farming-pioneer-alex-white-plume/
  5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_White_Plume
  6. ↑ https://branchoutnow.org/opening-words-for-4th-annual-indigenous-hemp-conference/
  7. ↑ https://www.pbs.org/pov/standing/film_description.php
  8. ↑ https://branchoutnow.org/opening-words-for-4th-annual-indigenous-hemp-conference/
  9. ↑ http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=885&Itemid=33
  10. ↑ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-red-town-radio-31040925/episode/alex-white-plume-lakota--37453740/
  11. ↑ https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/hope-and-hemp-the-unfinished-odyssey-of-alex-white-plume/article_8bd594bc-fbc3-56b0-85ff-a5cfa88ccc7a.html
  12. ↑ https://branchoutnow.org/opening-words-for-4th-annual-indigenous-hemp-conference/
  13. ↑ https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/05/tribes-marijuana-laws-00022899
  14. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-marijuana-idUSN0239750120070403
  15. ↑ https://apnews.com/article/legislature-michelle-lujan-grisham-recreational-marijuana-legislation-marijuana-61021fb6047fccfa09b004b30acf172d
Retrieved from "https://climatewiki.earth/wiki/index.php?title=Legality_of_Qannabis&oldid=7788"