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PDF file of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision:
AP: Appeals Court Rules Against Indian Reservation
By Carson Walker, Associated Press Writer
Sioux Falls, S.D. -- An American Indian treaty and United States law do not
allow for the cultivation of industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Alex White Plume, vice president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and members of
his family planted hemp on their property but it was cut down and
confiscated by federal agents.
Industrial hemp is related to marijuana and is used to make rope and other
products. It has only a trace of the drug in marijuana, but it is illegal to
grow hemp in the United States.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it empathized with the White
Plumes but concluded their enterprise was illegal.
"We are not unmindful of the challenges faced by members of the tribe to
engage in sustainable farming on federal trust lands ... And we do not doubt
that there are a countless number of beneficial products which utilize hemp
in some fashion. Nor do we ignore the burdens imposed by a DEA (Drug
Enforcement Agency) registration necessary to grow hemp legally," justices
wrote.
"But these are policy arguments better suited for the congressional hearing
room than the courtroom."
During oral arguments in December in St. Louis, the White Plumes' lawyer
asked the appeals court to return the matter to a lower court to consider
the legality of their crop.
The family tried three times to grow industrial hemp on Pine Ridge
reservation land from 2000 to 2002, only to have the federal government
seize and destroy the plants.
A judge ordered the White Plumes to stop the plantings but they were never
charged with a crime.
The family could have applied to the DEA for permission to grow the crop,
but without that authorization the crop could not be allowed, argued
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Salter.
"The court should be commended for fulfilling its constitutional role by
interpreting an ambiguous law of Congress," he said Wednesday.
The White Plumes' lawyer, Bruce Ellison of Rapid City, argued the family was
not growing a drug so it didn't need to apply to the federal government for
permission.
Ellison said he knew of no instance when the DEA granted a commercial hemp
farming permit. And he said by treaty and tribal law, the White Plumes had
the right to grow hemp without a DEA permit.
The appeals court disagreed, saying the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 set a
number of provisions to encourage Indian farming but does not address hemp
farming.
White Plume and Ellison could not be reached for comment.
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