Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 2015
Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Copyright: 2015 Times-Standard
Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus
Website: http://www.times-standard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051

HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE REJECTS REPEAL OF BAN ON POT GROWS

Unofficial results of Tuesday's Hoopa Valley Tribe primary election 
show over 60 percent of voters rejecting an initiative that would 
repeal the tribe's ban on marijuana grows.

The repeal of Title 34 garnered a total of 308 "yes" votes and 535 
"no" votes, according to an email sent by tribal member and repeal 
opponent Viv Orcutt.

"Most families are affected by drug use in some way," Orcutt wrote. 
"Legalizing marijuana would have thrown gasoline on the existing drug 
problem in our community."

Hoopa Valley Tribal Council Chairwoman Danielle Vigil-Masten had 
previously expressed concerns about the effects of marijuana 
production on tribal lands.

"Our tribe is concerned about the ramification as far as the court 
system, water and the chemicals that (growers) use that have toxic 
effects on our land and also on animals," she told the Times-Standard 
in December.

The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council prohibited the cultivation and 
distribution of marijuana grows on tribal lands in 1999 after 
adopting Title 34. The ordinance was adopted in response to the 
Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which allowed the use and cultivation 
of medical marijuana in California.

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo in December stating that 
tribes can grow and sell marijuana on their lands as long as they 
follow the same federal conditions laid out for states that have 
already legalized the drug.

Based off this, former Hoopa Valley Tribal Council Chairman Clifford 
Lyle Marshall Sr. created a petition to repeal Title 34 and gained 
enough signatures to have the initiative on Tuesday's ballot.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom