HOT SPRINGS, S.D. - The legal battle to allow families on the Pine Ridge
Reservation to grow industrial hemp as a cash crop and help relieve
poverty has shifted focus to include the issues of jurisdiction,
sovereignty and freedom.
Attorneys fighting a federal court case stated the federal government
will have to deal with treaties, sovereignty, individual rights and that
America will be forced to look in the mirror and reflect on what freedom
really means.
In the midst of this, Alex White Plume, the party in question in the
court case, grew industrial hemp as head of his Tiospaye (extended
family) to provide a future for the children. He grew three crops, all
of which were cut down by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). He stood
strong throughout the ordeal and has become a symbol of determination
and freedom while becoming a cult hero.
"We almost lost our language. People that were forced to live in the
cities were called ethnic minorities. I am not an ethnic minority, I'm
special. It's a sickness we have to fight. "Hemp is not the only battle
we have to fight to heal our wounds. My grandmother was killed at
Wounded Knee and we are still dealing with that. I am tired of living
with pain," White Plume said.
United States v. White Plume has taken on significance larger than just
a court case about growing what the federal government deems an illegal
substance.
"How can something so beneficial and non-threatening become illegal,"
asked Tom Ballanco, White Plume's attorney.
"The more I became interested in industrial hemp and when I came to the
reservation to look at this case the more it showed me about the United
States government.
"When I went through the DEA history and how it got started and seeing
how things are on the reservation, I thought maybe more than this part
of the U.S. government was rotten," Ballanco said.
"We are defining what it means to be free and sovereign. Think how
America treats these first nations. If America is to survive it has to
treat these first nations fairly. I'm glad to be involved," Ballanco
said.
White Plume is restricted by a restraining order to not harvest any
industrial hemp on his land. He said he has one and a half acres of hemp
now growing, that is almost ready for harvest. Each year the DEA
harvests the crop, it drops seeds that germinate to create an even
larger crop for the next year.
Hemp is a prolific plant that most people on Pine Ridge argue is ideal
for the climate. The Oglala Sioux Tribe passed an ordinance that
separates industrial hemp from the properties of marijuana, its sister
plant, allowing it to be grown on the 1.4 million acre reservation. But
the federal government does not separate the two plants and places hemp
in the same category as marijuana.
White Plume, a mere four years ago, acted as head of his family and
brought people together to create an economic base for everyone on his
land. They harvest Echinacea, raise buffalo, have a small recreational
camp and planned to harvest and create valued-added businesses in the
hemp industry.
The DEA stepped in and created a nightmare for White Plume. He said he
was distraught over the possibility of spending time in jail over
something that has grown wild on the reservation for many years.
"My morale is going up. I have these conspiracy charges hanging over me.
As head of the family I have to show strength, but last night I let it
all out and cried like a baby," White Plume said.
He addressed a convention of hemp industry advocates and producers here.
What White Plume said he wanted was to simply to return to the way of
his traditions as an Oglala Lakota.
And in a court case where a jury will have to decide the fate of hemp on
the reservation or actually anywhere else, there is a fear that the
federal government will be exposed and tribal sovereignty and the
treaties will become strong evidence for the defense, said Bruce
Ellison, attorney for White Plume.
He said the federal government was afraid to have issues of freedom,
sovereignty and hemp explored with a jury. They sought an injunction
against White Plume, based on what Congress allowed in the California
medical marijuana issue that would avoid a possible loss in court.
"This gives us a chance to talk about sovereignty issue and the Treaty
of 1868," Ellison said. He said the door opened when at a previous
hearing a DEA agent said that the amount of THC in the hemp grown by
White Plume was zero and he considered it only fiber and oil.
In the treaty, the Oglala Lakota and all Lakota were to become farmers.
They would be given land, seeds and technical assistance. They were also
given the right to live on their land, the reservations.
And in the 1930s people on the reservation were encouraged by the
federal government to grow hemp to help ease the effects of a national
depression. Today the remnants of that era can be seen in many draws and
valleys with creeks and rivers where the hemp grows wild.
"I look forward to the first shipment of seed," Ellison said.
Attorneys assert that in a trial the imperial power of the Unites States
that limits freedom for its citizens and especially those on
reservations will become official public knowledge. "People will see how
the federal government stands on indigenous people all over the world,"
Ballanco said.
"Everyone knows what the sense of freedom is and where we are at now is
not a reflection of that vision."
Attorneys look forward to addressing the issues of sovereignty and
freedom in court. The White Plume trial has not been set, but it is
could come in the fall, attorneys said.
Historically the American Indians that inhabited America have been
growing hemp for centuries; it was a traditional product for many
people. Now the government claims that the people can't grow what was at
one time an essential product for survival, tribal leaders argue.
"We are committed to growing hemp," said John Yellow Bird Steele,
president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
"The tribal council authorized the growth of hemp. The U.S. government
is controlled by the corporations and the corporations don't want the
competition. It is an ideal crop for this reservation. We could take
business away from the corporations," he said.
David Frankel, attorney for the hemp industry said his company bought
the first plants grown on the reservation as a fiber product and donated
the harvest for building materials. "This completes the process. It's
the same as Gandhi did in India by using local products to make clothing
and take away dependency from England.
"That was sovereignty," Frankel said.
On the Pine Ridge reservation unemployment is at 80 percent, and has
been that way for years. Milo Yellow Hair, former tribal president and
leader in the movement to grow hemp and other agricultural products said
hemp can help create jobs. To further that goal, the United States must
uphold and honor the treaties.
"This government does a lot in your name and not all of it honorable,"
he said.
"What is needed is to find some way to create employment that has
integrity and something that was grown and manufactured on the
reservation," Yellow Hair said.

The world gets crazier and crazier everyday, doesn't it? The world that many
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