Source:
Hartford Courant
By TIMOTHY M. PHELPS, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — Opening the door for what could be a lucrative and
controversial new industry on some Native American reservations, the
Justice Department on Thursday will tell U.S. attorneys to not prevent
tribes from growing or selling marijuana on the sovereign lands, even in
states that ban the practice.
The new guidance, released in a memorandum, will be implemented on a
case-by-case basis and tribes must still follow federal guidelines, said
Timothy Purdon, the U.S. attorney for North Dakota and the chairman of
the Attorney General's Subcommittee on Native American Issues.
It
remains to be seen how many reservations will take advantage of the
policy. Many tribes are opposed to legalizing pot on their lands, and
federal officials will continue to enforce the law in those areas, if
requested.
Representatives from the Mashantucket Pequot and
Mohegan tribes in Connecticut, which run the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun
resort casinos, respectively, could not immediately be reached for
comment.
The policy comes on the heels of the 2013 Justice Department decision
to stop most federal marijuana prosecutions in states that have
legalized the possession or sale of pot. Colorado, Washington, Oregon,
Alaska and the District of Columbia have all moved to legalize the drug,
though the D.C. law may be scaled back by Congress.
Some tribes
see marijuana sales as a potential source of revenue, similar to
cigarette sales and casino gambling, which have brought a financial boon
to reservations across the country. Others, including the Yakama
Reservation in Washington state, remain strongly opposed to the sale or
use of marijuana on their lands.
Purdon said in an interview that the majority of Native American
tribes, mindful of the painful legacy of alcohol abuse in their
communities, appear to be against allowing marijuana use on their
territory.
The federal government will continue to legally support
those tribes that wish to ban marijuana, even in states that now permit
its sale, Purdon said.
But
the Justice Department will generally not attempt to enforce federal
marijuana laws on federally recognized tribes that choose to allow it,
as long as they meet eight federal guidelines, including that marijuana
not be sold to minors and not be transported to areas that prohibit it.
"The tribes have the sovereign right to set the code on their reservations," Purdon said.
John
Walsh, the U.S. attorney for Colorado, said a primary purpose of the
memorandum to be released Thursday is to assure U.S. attorney offices
and tribes that despite the changes in Justice Department policy
announced last year, federal prosecutors still have the authority to
prosecute marijuana felonies on tribal lands.
In many cases, federal prosecutors are the only ones permitted by law to prosecute marijuana felonies on tribal lands.
Walsh
said that the new memorandum, like the one issued for states last year,
emphasizes that states or reservations must have "robust and effective
regulatory systems in place" and that federal prosecutors reserve the
right to take broader enforcement actions.
The policy is likely to
be criticized in states opposed to marijuana sales, particularly those
with Native American reservations.
Kevin A. Sabet, an opponent of
marijuana legalization and former adviser on drug issues to President
Obama, called the policy an "extremely troubling development."
"It once again sends a message that we really don't care about federal drug laws," he said.
Sabet,
director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida,
said, "Native Americans and their families suffer disproportionately
from addiction compared to other groups. The last thing they want is
another commercialized industry that targets them for greater use."
Times staff writer Hugo Martin in Los Angeles and Courant staff writer Matthew Sturdevant in Hartford contributed to this report.