{"id":2912,"date":"2021-12-09T20:18:47","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/?p=57994"},"modified":"2021-12-09T20:18:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:18:47","slug":"new-mexico-cannabis-raid-spotlights-native-american-jurisdictional-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=2912","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico Cannabis Raid Spotlights Native American Jurisdictional Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A federal raid on a household cannabis plot on tribal land in northern New Mexico\u2019s Sangre de Cristo Mountains is sparking controversy over who has how much enforcement authority on Native American reservations. As more states embrace legal adult-use cannabis, a lack of clarity persists on the question of how much power the state, federal and tribal governments have on these lands.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 9, agents from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA<\/a>) confiscated nine plants from a garden at the Picuris Pueblo<\/a> home of Charles Farden, 54, a life-long reservation resident who is not actually Native American. Farden is enrolled in the New Mexico medical marijuana program, to treat post-traumatic stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n

Farden told the Associated Press<\/a> he was shocked to be put in handcuffs as federal agents uprooted his plants, which were then thick with buds\u2014about a year\u2019s personal supply, by his estimate. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was just open with the officer, straightforward. When he asked what I was growing, I said, \u2018My vegetables, my medical cannabis,\u2019\u201d Farden told the AP. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018That can be a problem.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal Law Comes First?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

New Mexico\u2019s legislature approved a medical marijuana program in 2007, while Picuris Pueblo instated its own parallel program for tribal members in 2015. <\/p>\n

As Picuris Gov. Craig Quanchello told Albuquerque\u2019s The Paper<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019re exercising our sovereignty. We went through our community and said, OK, this is what\u2019s going on. This is what we want to do. How does the community feel about cannabis from the medical side? \u2026We wanted to provide an alternate medicine for our community people, and we wanted options\u2026 We wanted to have an affordable medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this is going to become a more pressing question as the Land of Enchantment gets a legal adult-use market. This April, New Mexico\u2019s Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed<\/a> a general cannabis legalization bill, which took effect in June\u2014permitting up to six plants per individual or 12 per household for personal use, with no weight limit. Commercial sales are set to begin next April. At least two of New Mexico\u2019s 23 federally recognized tribes are seeking an agreement with the state allowing them to operate cannabis businesses\u2014Picuris and Acoma Pueblo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the feds, of course, do not recognize any state legalization law. And it is the feds that share law enforcement responsibilities with the governments of federally recognized tribes. This is especially an issue for Picuris, a small pueblo that does not maintain its own police force, relying on BIA officers to enforce tribal laws. The specter of BIA raids could put the kibosh on plans for retail outlets on the pueblos.<\/p>\n

In a recent letter to Gov. Quanchello obtained by the Associated Press, a BIA special agent in charge said the agency won\u2019t instruct its officers to relax enforcement on the reservations\u2014and that cannabis cultivation remains a federal crime, notwithstanding any changes to state or tribal law. <\/p>\n

\u201cPrior notification of law enforcement operations is generally not appropriate,\u201d the letter stated. \u201cThe BIA Office of Justice Services is obligated to enforce federal law and does not instruct its officers to disregard violations of federal law in Indian Country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials with the BIA and Interior Department, which oversees the agency, did not respond to the AP\u2019s request for comment on the matter. Farden has not been hit with any criminal charges. <\/p>\n

Prelude at Picuris<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The September bust at Picuris also had a prelude about four years earlier. On Nov. 30, 2017, agents from the BIA\u2019s Division of Drug Enforcement<\/a> arrived at the pueblo to uproot and confiscate a medical marijuana \u201ctest plot\u201d of 36 plants that had been established on land under the control of the tribal government. <\/p>\n

News gets out slowly in this rugged and remote part of the state, even today, and it wasn\u2019t until the following November that the raid was written up by the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>. \u201cThey took the plants and threatened to prosecute us,\u201d Gov. Quanchello told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

A year later, there had still been no arrests or prosecutions. But the test plot was not replanted. <\/p>\n

Gov. Quanchello emphasized that the pueblo had been totally open with state and federal authorities about what they were doing.  \u201cWe even told them if they ever want to raid us, here\u2019s where you need to go,\u201d he told the Journal.<\/p>\n

Contacted by the Journal for comment about the raid, the US Attorney\u2019s Office in Albuquerque sent this terse reply via email: \u201cThe matter about which you inquire was investigative in nature and, as a matter of policy, Justice Department agencies, including the US Attorney\u2019s Office, do not comment on investigative matters.\u201d <\/p>\n

Negotiating a Solution<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This September\u2019s second raid at Picuris has dampened hopes that the situation would improve under the new administration of Joe Biden. <\/p>\n

In its account of the new raid, the Associated Press quoted Portland-based criminal defense attorney Leland Berger, who last year advised the Oglala Sioux Tribe<\/a> of South Dakota after it instated a cannabis program. Berger implicitly noted the 2014 Wilkinson Memo<\/a>, which instructed<\/a> federal prosecutors not to interfere with cannabis sales or cultivation on tribal lands. \u201cIt\u2019s remarkable for me to hear that the BIA is enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act on tribal land where the tribe has enacted an ordinance that protects the activity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

As the AP noted, other Native American nations around the country have successfully reached accommodations with state and federal authorities\u2014if informally in the case of the latter. <\/p>\n

In Washington, the Suquamish Tribe<\/a> in 2015 reached a \u201ccompact\u201d with the state to open a retail cannabis outlet just across Puget Sound from Seattle on their Port Madison Reservation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Nevada, several reservations now operate dispensaries, bringing their own tribal laws into conformity with the state medical marijuana program and adult-use regulations.<\/p>\n

In South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux last year became the only tribe to establish a cannabis market<\/a> without parallel state regulations, approving both medical and adult use in a March referendum at the Pine Ridge Reservation. That November, a statewide referendum legalized adult-use cannabis in South Dakota, although the state supreme court this November barred it from taking effect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the federal presence on tribal lands is welcomed by reservation governments. President Biden this November ordered<\/a> several federal agencies to coordinate a new effort to combat human trafficking and crime<\/a> in Indian Country, where rates of violence are more than twice the national average. But the boundaries between tribal and federal power have long been contested. As Berger told AP: \u201cThe tribes are sovereign nations, and they have treaties with the United States, and in some cases there is concurrent jurisdiction\u2026 It\u2019s sort of this hybrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We Are Being Discriminated Against\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Cannabis Now reached Gov. Craig Quanchello by phone at Picuris Pueblo. He fills in some details on the two raids at the reservation.<\/p>\n

Of the medical marijuana test plot that was destroyed in November 2017, he stresses the tribal government\u2019s effort to be transparent. \u201cWe met with the US Attorney\u2019s office, and the [Taos] county and state officials, to let them know what we were doing. Our program mirrored the state\u2019s, but we added PTSD and opioid abuse as treatable conditions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, in the 2017 raid, \u201cThey brought in dogs and surveillance airplanes\u2014basically shutting down our world. At that point we were hesitant to go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

With new administrations in both Washington and Santa Fe, the tribe was just beginning to get over this hesitancy this year. House Bill 2<\/a>, the legalization measure signed<\/a> by Gov. Lujan Grisham on April 12, includes a provision for \u201cintergovernmental agreements with Indian nations, tribes and pueblos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came this November\u2019s raid on Charles Farden, a non-Native who is married to a tribal member and is enrolled in the state medical marijuana program. \u201cThe pueblo recognizes the state card,\u201d Quanchello says.<\/p>\n

Quenchello sees cannabis as an obvious option for the mountain-locked pueblo, where the already meager economy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re farmers by nature,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve always grown our traditional crops\u2014corn, hay, alfalfa. We don\u2019t have much population, but we have land. We see this as a means of economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he portrays the willingness to work with the state government as a matter of good faith. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to,\u201d he asserts. \u201cWe are sovereign. But we want to do it, in a spirit of teamwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet he\u2019s open about his frustration at two federal raids, even as other reservations around the U.S. have been given some breathing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is the BIA picking on us, the smallest pueblo in New Mexico, with no gaming and not on a traffic route? The money is not going to go into anyone\u2019s pocket, it\u2019s going back to the community\u2014to provide healthcare for our kids, our elders. We don\u2019t get enough federal funds to operate, and the funds are dwindling every year. We\u2019re being discriminated against here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal raid on a household cannabis plot on tribal land in northern New Mexico\u2019s Sangre de Cristo Mountains is sparking controversy over who has how much enforcement authority on Native American reservations. As more states embrace legal adult-use cannabis, a lack of clarity persists on the question of how much power the state, federal and tribal governments have on these lands. On Sept. 9, agents from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) confiscated nine plants from a garden at the Picuris Pueblo home of Charles Farden, 54, a life-long reservation resident who is not actually Native American. Farden is enrolled in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}