Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2014
Source: Herald, The (Everett, WA)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.heraldnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/190

YAKAMA NATION FIGHTING MARIJUANA IN 10 COUNTIES

YAKIMA (AP) - The Yakama Nation is moving to ban marijuana in all 10 
counties of its ancestral lands, covering one-fifth of the state's land mass.

In the wake of the state's legalization on recreational pot use, the 
tribe has already banned marijuana on its 1.2 million acre 
reservation near Yakima.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reported that under the Yakama Treaty of 
1855 with the federal government, the tribe was allowed to maintain 
fishing, hunting and food-gathering rights on more than 12 million 
acres of its historic lands that were ceded to the United States. Now 
they want to use those rights to include a ban on marijuana on all ceded lands.

"We're merely exercising what the treaty allows us to do, and that is 
prevent marijuana grows (and sales) on those lands," tribal chairman 
Harry Smiskin told the newspaper.

The tribe expects to file more than 600 objections with the state and 
federal governments against marijuana license applicants in the 12 
million-acre area, tribal attorney George Colby said. About 300 of 
those complaints have already been filed.

"To my knowledge, this would be the first time" the tribe has sought 
to prevent the implementation of a state law on all ceded land, Colby said.

The ceded land runs from the Columbia River on the Oregon border to 
all of Chelan County in the north, and from the eastern slopes of the 
Cascades to as far west as parts of Whitman County. The area 
encompasses the cities of the Yakima Valley, plus Wenatchee, 
Ellensburg, Goldendale and Pasco.

Colby and Smiskin draw comparisons to the tribe's long fight to keep 
alcohol off the reservation. They say the tribe has had an equally 
unpleasant history with marijuana use.

"Aside from the taxation of marijuana, I don't see any benefits from 
it," Smiskin said.

In addition to the ban on marijuana businesses, it also remains 
illegal to possess marijuana for personal use on the Yakama 
reservation. Colby said the fact that marijuana remains illegal under 
federal law also entitles the tribe to challenge it on ceded lands.

But the author of the 2012 voter-approved initiative that legalized 
marijuana, Alison Holcomb, said she doesn't see a legal basis for the 
tribe's opposition to marijuana businesses on ceded lands.

"I think they run into the issue of not having standing to, in 
essence, bring suit on behalf of the federal government," said 
Holcomb, the criminal justice director of the American Civil 
Liberties Union Washington chapter. "The federal government at this 
time has shown it has no intention of trying to stop the law."

In August, the U.S. Justice Department sent a memo to Washington and 
Colorado saying it would not stop the implementation of laws 
legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

In October the state Liquor Control Board established a rule that it 
would not issue a marijuana license to any business located on 
federal lands, such as an Indian reservation, a federal park or 
military installation. The rule does not address ceded lands, and on 
Friday a spokesman said the agency wasn't ready to comment on that issue.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom