Pine Ridge Hemp Farm May Sprout Again

By CHARLES MICHAEL RAY
Source: sdpb.org

Industrial hemp farming may be returning to the Pine Ridge Reservation.

In 1998, the Oglala Sioux Tribe legalized hemp with a requirement that the plants have very low levels of T-H-C so they would not have any effects of the drug marijuana.  

But when Oglala Sioux Tribal member Alex White Plume planted a hemp crop on his land, it was raided by DEA agents and White Plume spent years battling the issue in federal court.

SDPB’s Charles Michael Ray reports that now the Federal Government is lifting restrictions on tribes who want to grow marijuana-- White Plume is eager to start planting again.  


Second Source: dailyjournal.net: 

PINE RIDGE, South Dakota — Alex White Plume planted industrial hemp on his Pine Ridge farm more than a decade ago, but never harvested a crop. Now, he says it's time to grow again.

White Plume, an Oglala Sioux tribal member, wants to grow hemp again on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation thanks to guidelines laid out by the federal Department of Justice in December allowing tribes to decide whether to grow and sell marijuana, reported South Dakota Public Broadcasting (http://bit.ly/1HUFoRa ).

In 1998, the Oglala Sioux Tribe legalized the production of hemp and the White Plume family began growing the plant on the reservation from 2000 to 2002. But federal agents eventually conducted raids and cut down the plants because U.S. law considers hemp, a cousin of marijuana, to be a drug even though it contains only a trace of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a banned substance also found in marijuana.

But before White Plume can grow again, he first has to get federal authorities to lift a restraining order keeping him from planting hemp on his Pine Ridge farm. White Plume says his attorneys are working to see the restraining order lifted and believes hemp could be an appropriate form of economic development.

"Now, we're finally at a point where we can really exercise our rights and maybe we'll see some money as the outcome," he said.

Tribes have been wrestling with the idea of growing and selling marijuana since the U.S. Justice Department announced that it wouldn't stand in their way if they want to approve pot for medical or recreational use in December of last year. The agency said tribes must follow the same law enforcement priorities laid out for states that legalize the drug, including keeping marijuana out of the hands of children and criminal elements.

Oglala Sioux Tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele has said that he doesn't support allowing marijuana on Pine Ridge but does support industrial hemp.