COURT NIXES PINE RIDGE HEMP FARM

SIOUX FALLS -- An American Indian treaty and United States law do not
allow for the cultivation of industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Alex White Plume, who is vice president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe,
and members of his family planted hemp on their property but it was
cut down and confiscated by federal agents.

Industrial hemp,which is related to marijuana, is used to make rope
and other products.

It has only a trace of the drug in marijuana, but it is illegal to
grow hemp in the United States.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it empathized with the
White Plumes but concluded that their enterprise was illegal.

"We are not unmindful of the challenges faced by members of the Tribe
to engage in sustainable farming on federal trust lands. ... And we
do not doubt that there are a countless number of beneficial products
which utilize hemp in some fashion. Nor do we ignore the burdens
imposed by a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) registration necessary to
grow hemp legally," justices wrote.

During oral arguments in December in St. Louis, the White Plumes'
lawyer asked the appeals court to return the matter to a lower court
to consider the legality of their crop.

The family tried three times to grow industrial hemp on Pine Ridge
reservation land from 2000 to 2002, only to have the federal
government seize and destroy the plants.

A judge ordered the White Plumes to stop the plantings but they were
never charged in criminal court.

The family could have applied to the DEA for permission to grow the
crop, but without that authorization the crop could not be allowed,
argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Salter.

"The court should be commended for fulfilling its constitutional role
by interpreting an ambiguous law of Congress," he said Wednesday.

The White Plumes' lawyer, Bruce Ellison of Rapid City, argued the
family was not growing a drug so it didn't need to apply to the
federal government for permission.

Ellison said he knew of no instance when the DEA granted a commercial
hemp farming permit. And he said by treaty and tribal law, the White
Plumes had the right to grow hemp without a DEA permit.

The appeals court disagreed, saying the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
set a number of provisions to encourage Indian farming but does not
address hemp farming.

White Plume and Ellison could not be reached for comment.