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By Leon Thompson
November 13, 2015 (Indian Country) -- Federal agents swarmed the Menominee Indian reservation Friday and destroyed 30,000 industrial hemp plants. In spite of the fact that President Barak Obama assured the American Indian Nations that Federal Enforcement would ‘stand down’ where Indian Tribes chose to experiment with growing industrial hemp.
The Industrial Hemp Farming Act okayed the growing of industrial hemp and the President encouraged Indian reservations to consider its cultivation as a way to boost tribal economies. The Menominee voted to legalize hemp as well as medicinal cannabis and recreational marijuana in 2012.
The United States is the last country in the world to ‘legalize’ industrial hemp cultivation. The United States imported $650,000,000 million dollars’ worth of hemp in 2014 mostly from China and Canada; Canada for seed, China for textile and the European Union for building materials and automotive parts.
In 2014 Congress had passed a Farm Bill which recognized a distinction between marijuana and industrial hemp that created an exemption to the Controlled Substance Act to allow for growth, cultivation and the study of industrial hemp in certain circumstances. (Note: Industrial hemp is essentially devoid of THC the psychoactive ingredient of Cannabis Sativa with only three tenths of one percent. By contrast medical cannabis may have as much as 25% THC.)
Menominee Indian Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw was in San Diego at the time of the raid attending the National Congress of American Indian’s convention in Mission Valley. He had this to say:
“I am deeply disappointed that Obama administration has made the decision to utilize the full force of the DEA to raid our Tribe. We were attempting to grow industrial hemp for research purposes in accordance with the farm bill. We offered to take any differences in the interpretation of the farm bill to federal court.
Instead, the Obama administration sent agents to destroy our crop while allowing recreational marijuana in Colorado. I just wish the President would explain to tribes why we can’t grow industrial hemp like states, and even more importantly, why we don’t deserve an opportunity to make our argument to a federal judge rather than having our community raided by the DEA?”
The Tribe had engaged in numerous face-to-face consultations with former U.S. Attorney Jim Santelle and current acting U.S. Attorney Greg Haanstad about the industrial crop before the raid – even offering to destroy the small portion that tested slightly above the limit.
“What makes the actions taken today even more difficult is that the federal government is very aware of the great unmet needs of the Menominee. Menominee County ranks at the bottom of the state in poverty and health statistics. The Tribe is trying to meet those needs by researching the potential economic opportunities of industrial hemp just as Congress intended when passing the Farm Bill,” said Chairman Besaw.
The tribe issued the following statement:
There has been disagreement between the Tribe and Acting U.S. Attorney Greg Haanstad as to whether the Tribe’s actions in cultivating its industrial hemp crop were in compliance with the 2014 Farm Bill. The Tribe has worked tirelessly to find a solution to this disagreement, including offering to destroy itself certain strains of the industrial hemp crop that both sides had identified as problematic and offering to file a Declaratory Judgment Action in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to allow a federal judge to decide the disputed issues. These offers by the Tribe were rejected in favor of the aggressive unilateral action we saw today. The tribe says it plans to take the matter to court.
Industrial hemp crops are currently being grown in Kentucky and Colorado.
Here are some of the economic development opportunities of industrial hemp:
Food: Hemp seed provides nearly complete nutrition with all 10 essential amino acids, all 4 essential fatty acids (EFAs) in the ratio recommended by health experts, and over 30% protein in its most easily digestible forms, making hemp the ideal protein, and ideal food for human consumption and opening up the door for various opportunities in the food Industry.
Animal Feed: Hemp meal provides all the essential protein that livestock require yet doesn't require any antibiotics to digest. When cows eat corn they cannot digest it, needing antibiotics to keep from being sick, which makes the antibiotics less effective on the humans that consume the beef. Hemp is also excellent animal bedding for horses and other livestock.
Body Care: Because of hemp oil’s high EFA content, especially GLA, hemp helps cells to communicate to rebuild cell membranes, which keeps the skin from getting dry by enabling skin cells to hold onto moisture in their natural lipid layers. This makes hemp oil the perfect ingredient for use is various skin care lines.
Specialty Oil: Hemp oil can be made into non-toxic paints, varnishes, lubricants, and sealants. The paints last longer, and the sealants are better absorbed by wood.
BioFuels: Hemp biomass can produce electricity from sulfur-free charcoal, as well as ethanol, yet these industries will be the last to develop due to the high value of hemp food. Hemp can easily be made into biodiesel fuel as well.
Automobile parts: European plants are making auto panels from hemp based composites that are biodegradable, half the weight of, more durable, and safer than fiberglass counterparts.
Plastics: Hemp hurds and fiber have over 50% cellulose, the building blocks of plastics. Biodegradable hemp plastics could reduce landfill waste and display unique strength characteristics.
Paper: Hemp pulp paper doesn't require toxic bleaching chemicals and lasts hundreds of years longer than paper made from trees. It is stronger, and can be recycled many more times than tree paper. An acre of Industrial Hemp can produce as much pulp as an acre of tree over a 20 year growing cycle.
Homes: Hempcrete homes, a mixture of hemp and lime, are fire, water, and rodent proof, with excellent elasticity, strength and breathability, which cuts energy costs. Washington State Univ. found hemp board to be three times stronger than plywood. 6
Clothes: Hemp is among the longest, strongest, most elastic, and most durable fibers in nature. Hemp is stronger, more durable, softer, more UV protective, warmer, and won't mildew or rot like cotton fiber, which requires 25% of the worlds crop chemicals.
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The Tribe had offered to destroy certain strains of the industrial hemp crop that both sides had identified as problematic and offered to file a Declaratory Judgment Action in United States District Court for Eastern Wisconsin to allow a federal judge to decide the dispute.
http://boingboing.net/2015/10/26/federal-agents-seize-menominee.html
DEA agents descended on Menominee County in Wisconsin last Friday,to destroy what the tribal authorities say was an industrial hemp crop. The DEA says it was “high-grade marijuana,” and they're not apologizing. The chairman of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin says the DEA had no right to the cannabis, and the DEA boasts of seizing some 30,000 plants in all.
WBAY (ABC) news in Wisconsin reports:
Jorge Rodas was the first reporter on the scene on County Road M west of Suring Friday morning. He saw a number of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. He also saw agents using front-end loaders to load plants into county highway department trucks. Agents were working at several locations for most of the morning.
Menominee County deputies were standing guard, dressed in tactical gear with assault rifles.
Undercover officers were at the scene, in addition to officials from Menominee and Oconto counties. The scene along County M borders Oconto County and the Menominee Indian reservation.
According to the DEA, it had a search warrant from a federal judge in Green Bay to search a home, outbuilding, and about 20 acres of tribal land in Menominee County.
The DEA says an investigation found people other than Menominee Tribe Members were planting and tending to marijuana plants on the tribal land.
No arrests were made.
Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw says the feds “improperly and unnecessarily” destroyed the tribe’s hemp crop. I wouldn't be surprised if a lawsuit were filed soon.
Says a statement released by the DEA regarding the raid: "No arrests were made and this investigation is on-going."
Besaw says the tribe is growing “low THC, non-psychotropic” hemp under an agreement with the College of the Menominee Nation, to grow, cultivate and study industrial hemp. He said it was in accordance with the 2014 Farm Bill, which allows growing industrial hemp in some circumstances. He said the Bureau of Indian Affairs took samples of the crop for testing earlier this week.
Here is the tribe’s statement:
There has been disagreement between the Tribe and Acting U.S. Attorney Greg Haanstad as to whether the Tribe’s actions in cultivating its industrial hemp crop was in compliance with the 2014 Farm Bill. The Tribe has worked tirelessly to find a solution to this disagreement, including offering to destroy itself certain strains of the industrial hemp crop that both sides had identified as problematic and offering to file a Declaratory Judgment Action in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to allow a federal judge to decide the disputed issues. These offers by the Tribe were rejected in favor of the aggressive unilateral action we saw today. The tribe says it plans to take the matter to court.
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