Native Tribes in California Might Establish Their Own Marijuana Businesses

February 27, 2018, California

Indigenous American Tribes in California might have their own cannabis farms and business model completely independent of the legalization guidebook of the state. The idea has gotten the traction following their assessment of the rules and regulations of the state legalization, which is going to complete two months in few days.

The tribes think that compliance with the legalization laws will seize their authority on their own cultivation land and strip them of their prerogative to self-govern.

The prospect of the tribes rebelling against the legalization system is yet another challenge for the state authorities who are working hard to infuse all the cannabis transactions into a multibillion industry.

The main point of contention is a clause which states that the tribes had to withdraw their rights to act as governments on the subject of cannabis business, if they want to be part of state-run cannabis program. It is important to note that these native tribes are recognized as autonomous nations by the Federal government.

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The issue of taxation and jurisdiction of state law enforcement agencies are the major reasons why the tribes are reluctant to join the legalization program. They have to relinquish their sovereign immunity in order to obtain a license for the cultivation and sales of marijuana.

There were rounds of meeting between people the state official and the tribe representatives before legalization came into effect. However, all this deliberations failed to conclude into any meaningful outcome.

The tribe groups have made it clear quite often that they can grow and do business in their own sovereign capacity and the state authorities don’t have a mandate to interfere.

The state of Washington has already seen the same kind of crisis which finally got resolved when the native tribes located there had a pact with the state government. Under this pact, they are allowed to sell their cultivated marijuana to retail businesses with some exceptions due to their status under federal legislation. More tribes in Washington are waiting for the governor’s approval for the same kind of deal.

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Tribes in California are also pushing to have these exclusive agreements with the government to be part of legalized cannabis industry. However, if the issue goes into the state assembly then it might take a whole year to get anything of the same sort.

The difficulties of native tribes don’t end here. The nullification of Obama-era Cole memo has also created problems at the federal level. The looming threat of federal crackdown against cannabis businesses has halted the investment of major companies in the tribal belt.

For instance, a multimillion dollar venture is on hold for now, which was intended to build cannabis manufacturing plants on the tribes’ land in San Diego County. The tribes located there were going to get 40 percent share of the profits.

For American Native tribes, the issue of sovereignty is a very sensitive matter and we have yet to see how the equation between legalized marijuana and sovereignty is going to settle.

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