INDIAN WARS IN THE WEST

To the editor:

Yesterday I heard a curious account on National Public Radio of an episode
in the "drug war." It seems that McCaffrey's troops raided an Oglalla
reservation in order to search and destroy a one and a half-acre crop of
industrial hemp.

The Oglalla, who have been recovering for over one-hunderd years from the
policies of the U.S. military and its government, must now have their hopes
of sustainable shelter dashed again. I have suggested to Senator Durbin as
well as to others, that Native Americans living in these inhospitable areas
(both socially and meteorologically) could benefit from the use of
alternative methods of home construction such as straw-bale infill, which
is now enjoying great popularity in many areas of the world.

What the Oglalla are attempting to do is use the industrial hemp, which has
significantly low content of THC, to lower building costs of homes they are
constructing. The hemp, mixid with concrete, a system developed and used
successfully in France, will not only lower costs, it will increase energy
conservation. Both of these things are desparately needed by the Oglalla.

Industrial hemp, as you may know, has other significant characteristics
besides a low content of THC. When planted within pollination distance of
cannabis, it tends to greatly lower the THC content in the marijuana
plants. I would think that this characteristic alone would endear it to
the cadres of drug war zealots as well as to the religious
extremists. However, both these camps are spreading rumor rather than fact.

The issue of sovereignty of Indian Nations has also been blithely ignored
by the U.S. government. The Oglalla, in spite of their limited resources
must once again mount a legal battle against all the powers arranged
against them.

Will their be no end to the injustices suffered by these first Americans in
their own land? Do the servants of the official apparati have no shame at
all? Will these native peoples attempting to help themselves and shelter
their families have to fight the U.S. bureacracy have no other solution to
offer than guns, helicopters, and flamethrowers?

I urge citizens to demand just treatment of Oglalla and other native
peoples, and the assistance they so urgently need and deserve.

Ed Gutierrez Pleasant Plains