Oglala Sioux Tribe (SD) Ordinance on the Growing of Industrial Hemp

Type: Resolution & Ordinance

Status: Adopted on 11/20/01

Vote: In Favor - 10 Opposed - 2

Source File: http://votehemp.com/lakota/OrdinanceNo9827.pdf

Text:

ORDINANCE OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL COUNCIL AMENDING THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL PENAL CODE RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL HEMP.

WHEREAS, the Oglala Sioux Tribe recognizes that industrial hemp is a safe and profitable commodity in the international marketplace and is grown in more than thirty countries including Canada, France, England, Russia, China, Germany and Australia, and

WHEREAS, treaties signed between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the United States government acknowledge that the tribe retains the right to grow food and fiber crops from the soil, and

WHEREAS, the Oglala Sioux Tribe recognizes that industrial hemp was a viable and profitable crop grown in the Pine Ridge region when the treaties were entered between the United States and the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and

WHEREAS, the Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks to develop sustainable, land-based, economic opportunities for tribal members, and

WHEREAS, the Oglala Sioux Tribe recognizes that there is a consistent, predictable, genetically based difference between the varieties of Cannabis sativa that produce marijuana and those that produce industrial hemp and that the difference is based on the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol present in the plant, and

WHEREAS, law enforcement agents and farmers can learn to readily distinguish between the different varieties of Cannabis sativa, and

WHEREAS, the Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks to maintain its current policy of prohibiting the use and proliferation of marijuana on the reservation, and

WHEREAS, international treaties and trade agreements including the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) specifically classify industrial hemp as a commodity that is separate and distinct from any narcotic, and

WHEREAS, the law enforcement policies of the United States Government are inconsistent, severely overburden industrial hemp agriculture, and do not adequately carry out the original intent of Congress regarding industrial hemp and marijuana, now

THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED, that the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council does hereby expressly reserve and retain jurisdiction to enact legislation relating to industrial hemp agriculture and amends the Oglala Sioux Tribe Penal Code to clarify its policy allowing agricultural and economic development while retaining its existing policy against marijuana, and

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, that any members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who wish to harvest or cultivate industrial hemp must first organize, or join an existing, a land use association. Each land use association making use of industrial hemp will then appoint, and arrange for the compensation of, a liaison who will file a quarterly report to the Land Committee of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, delineating with specificity the industrial hemp acreage to be cultivated and/or harvested, the end products to be manufactured and the progress since the previous report. The liaison will serve as the interface between the land use association, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council and any interested law enforcement agencies, and

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, that the Oglala Sioux Tribal Penal Code, Title 9, Section 106 - Marijuana and Section 106.00 - Controlled Drugs and Substances are amended as follows:

(Refer to Source File for complete text of ordinance.)