Politics
Trump Administration Should Rewrite Marijuana Rescheduling Rule To Include Tribes, American Indian Group Says
The Trump administration “failed to engage” in consultation with American Indian tribes as is required under federal law when crafting its plan to reschedule marijuana, according to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). As such, the group wants the policy rewritten or supplemented with a new one to ensure that tribally regulated cannabis is covered under the reform.
NCAI “demands the DOJ immediately initiate Tribal consultation with Tribes engaged in the cannabis industry to gain insight into the [Controlled Substances Act (CSA)] scheduling of cannabis and cannabis products, and how actions the DOJ takes impact Tribes,” a resolution adopted by the group’s members at its annual convention last month says.
While the final order on marijuana rescheduling that was signed by Attorney General Todd Blanche in April immediately moved marijuana products regulated by a state medical cannabis license from Schedule I of the CSA to Schedule III, it “does not specifically mention Tribes or Tribally regulated medical cannabis programs and by its limited terms may not cover Tribal cannabis products, despite the wide-ranging medical cannabis products subject to Tribal licensure,” the resolution says.
The tribal cannabis industry has “grown every year as more Tribes exercise their inherent sovereign authority to regulate cannabis and cannabis products,” the measure adopted by NCAI, which is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments, says.
A map created last year by the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association (ICIA) in collaboration with the law firm Vicente LLP that more than a fourth of Indigenous communities in the continental U.S. are now involved with marijuana or hemp programs.
An estimate published last month by HedgeRow Analysis projected that Native American tribes that participate in the legal marijuana market stand to generate more than $2 billion in new revenue every year.
Despite growing tribal involvement in the cannabis industry, the NCAI resolution notes that the Trump administration’s Department of Justice “failed to engage in Tribal consultation” as is required by a Clinton-era executive order and claimed that it did not do so because, it claimed, marijuana rescheduling “does not have substantial effects on one or more Indian tribes, despite the scores of Tribes that engaged with the DOJ during the contemplation of the Final Order and that have exercised their sovereignty by regulating and licensing cannabis and cannabis products within their jurisdiction.”
The group is calling on DOJ to either amend the existing rescheduling order to include tribally-licensed cannabis products or issue a separate new rule “specifically rescheduling Tribally licensed cannabis and cannabis products from schedule I to schedule III.”
“NCAI calls on the DOJ to specifically include Tribes in any further administrative action it contemplates regarding cannabis and cannabis products, regardless of whether it involves the CSA or rescheduling, due to the number of Tribes that are actively engaged in the cannabis industry through the exercise of their inherent sovereign authority,” the resolution says.
