Pubdate: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 Source: Gallup Independent (NM) Address: PO Box 1210 Gallup, NM 87305 Contact: http://www.cia-g.com/~gallpind/ Author: Jim Maniaci TRIBAL PANEL ENDORSES HEMP WINDOW ROCK — Growing hemp on the Navajo Reservation has received a major endorsement. The council's Public Safety Committee passed a resolution last week recommending that the Navajo Nation Council allow industrial hemp to be grown on the reservation, despite the fact that hemp is closely related to the marijuana plant. Another resolution approved by the committee, however, shows its members aren't getting soft on drugs. The second resolution recommends a "zero tolerance" approach to the possession of marijuana on the reservation and asks that the jail time be doubled to six months and the fine increased from $50 to $500. The question of growing hemp on the reservation has been going on now for more than four years, with a number of chapters considering the idea. The proposals, however, have been deflected by attorneys for the tribe because of state and federal laws prohibiting it without a special federal permit. Federal law also requires that hemp be grown in areas where special laws have been passed to decriminalize its production and processing. Ervin Keeswood, the delegate from Hogback who sponsored the marijuana resolution, said stiffer tribal laws are needed. Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana "has become an increasing problem within the Navajo Nation, including in state public schools, private schools and Navajo local community-controlled schools," the resolution says. "The Navajo Nation Council has been requested to consider a proposed resolution to allow the decriminalization of industrial hemp, a plant which bears some similarity to marijuana but does not possess the intoxicating qualities of marijuana, to lay the groundwork for the establishment of industrial hemp as an agricultural crop within the Navajo Nation," the resolution says. Keeswood and the committee concluded the light penalty for possessing the limited amount of marijuana is "inappropriate" because of problems in schools and "the concerns raised on the state and national levels relative to the legalization of industrial hemp." The committee's resolution also concluded, "The establishment of 'zero tolerance' policy for possession of marijuana within the Navajo Nation is in the best interests of the Navajo Nation." The resolution also would allow judges to use the Navajo peacemaker process along with the restoration of harmony or restitution. The judge would be able to sentence the convicted person to community service. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck