Written By Emily Gray Brosious
DEA destroys Menominee cannabis crop
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents raided sovereign Menominee Indian tribal land in Wisconsin Friday and destroyed what they say was an illegal marijuana crop.But according to Menominee Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw, the crop was actually industrial hemp, as reported by Fox 11.
Industrial hemp is cannabis that is bred with very little THC content – not enough to use for psychoactive purposes — and it is used primarily for its fibers and seeds. Hemp seeds can be eaten or used as an additive ingredient in various health and beauty products, and hemp fibers can be used to make thousands of products ranging from clothing to paper to even plastics.
The DEA says they seized 30,000 high-grade marijuana plants that were being cultivated by Colorado growers on the Wisconsin reservation. There were no arrests and the investigation is ongoing, according to the Associated Press.
The DEA’s announcement came after Menominee officials issued a statement saying feds “improperly and unnecessarily” ruined the tribe’s hemp crop.
Besaw said the tribe legalized growing industrial hemp under an agreement with the College of the Menominee Nation, which was in accordance with the 2014 Farm Bill that distinguishes hemp from marijuana and allows industrial hemp cultivation in some cases, as reported by the Journal Sentinel.
The tribe says there had been disagreement over the legality of the crop, and it offered to take the issue to court and to destroy the part of the crop that was considered problematic, according to the Associated Press.
“These offers by the Tribe were rejected in favor of the aggressive unilateral action we saw today,” the tribe’s statement said.
The Menominee reservation raid came in spite of a memo released by the U.S. Department of Justice last year, which discourages federal authorities from prosecuting tribes for growing and selling marijuana on their sovereign land.
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