Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jul 2015
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Ukiah Daily Journal
Contact: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/feedback
Website: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/581
Author: Carole Brodsky

PINOLEVILLE TRIBE'S 'COLLECTIVE' COLLABORATION IN DEVELOPMENT OF 
MEDICAL CANNABIS PROJECT

Editor's note: This is the first in a six-part series of articles 
covering the establishment of one of the first tribal cannabis 
farming projects in the United States. The Pinoleville Pomo Nation is 
providing Ukiah Daily Journal readers with a first-hand, exclusive 
look at the people, the processes and the philosophical underpinnings 
of this groundbreaking project.

"I admit that I'd drank the Kool-Aid like everyone else. We used to 
call cannabis locoweed. Once we understood this was the farthest 
thing from the truth, the tribe began moving forward. I was one of 
those detractors, until I saw and understood the entire cannabis 
story," says Mike Canales, president of the Business Board of the 
Pinoleville Pomo Nation.

Canales is referring to the shift in attitude that he and Pinoleville 
tribal members have undergone during the past year, as they 
researched and enlisted the assistance of cannabis experts to develop 
their own medical cannabis growing and processing operation on their 
reservation.

"From the beginning, we only wanted to be involved with medicinal 
cannabis. Initially we discussed creating edible medicinal products. 
Regardless of what we did, we knew we'd need help - to learn to grow 
and make the medicine, to acquire the right equipment, find the right 
people and create the structure to run this operation. At that point, 
we brought Barry into the conversation," Canales continues.

Barry Brautman is the CEO of the FoxBarry Companies - a limited 
liability corporation providing tribal entities with development and 
construction of farming projects, casinos, fuel distribution and 
other services.

"We had already been discussing the casino project with the tribe 
when this idea was presented. We recognized this could be a great 
tribal opportunity. But we were also very clear we weren't just going 
to grow and sell pot," Brautman explains.

The tribe and FoxBarry investigated medical cannabis companies. "We 
looked at the market. Who were the medical cannabis companies? Who 
was doing research? Who was patient-oriented? Who was leading the 
way?" Canales explains.

The United Cannabis Corporation was the company that was selected as 
the consulting entity for the project. United Cannabis is a 
Colorado-based, publicly traded medical cannabis company (CNAB) that 
produces no recreational cannabis products. The company's stated 
focus is to utilize cannabis for medical purposes, refine and improve 
upon medical-grade cannabis strains, employ best practice industry 
principles and emphasize patient care.

Brautman and tribal members visited the United Cannabis facilities 
along with other dispensaries. It took Brautman only 15 minutes 
observing patients filling the medical aisles inside Colorado 
dispensaries to reach his own conclusions. "These were cancer 
patients. Suffering people. People in severe pain. They weren't there 
to get high. They were in line to solve medical issues."

"When we met everyone at United Cannabis, there was no talk about 
marijuana, but there was a lot of talk about medical cannabis. We 
feel that's the distinction between our project and other tribal 
cannabis projects. The United Cannabis folks have put an astounding 
amount of research into this. There's no one else producing a line of 
medical products of this purity and quality. We're proud to work with 
them as our consultants," Canales continues.

Canales stresses that staff from United Cannabis are strategic 
project consultants and not partners or owners in any form. "They are 
high-tech advisors with a proven track record who are supervising the 
growing, harvesting, testing and processing of the plants and the 
construction of permanent greenhouses and processing facilities."

The project is following guidelines set forth in SB 420, utilizing a 
collective-cooperative structure, along with a detailed 47-page 
tribal ordinance drafted specifically for the project.

"I was nervous at first. But we made sure that everything was going 
to be done by the book, and that I or anyone else wouldn't end up in 
jail," smiles Canales.

The tribe's ordinance replicates what is known as the "Cole 
Memorandum" - the 2013 U.S. Department of Justice memorandum which 
was issued to United States Attorneys to guide prosecutors enforcing 
civil and criminal cannabis investigations and prosecutions under the 
federal Controlled Substances Act.

The memorandum focuses upon eight priorities: no distribution of 
marijuana to minors; preventing criminal enterprises, gangs, and 
cartels from accessing cannabis revenues; preventing the diversion of 
cannabis from legal to illegal states; preventing state-authorized 
cannabis activity as a cover for other illegal drug trafficking or 
activities; preventing violence and firearm use when cultivating and 
distributing cannabis; preventing drugged driving or the exacerbation 
of other adverse cannabis-related public health consequences; 
preventing the cultivation, production, environmental hazards and 
public safety concerns on public lands, and preventing cannabis 
possession or use on federal property.

Additionally, the ordinance includes a 2014 memorandum from the 
United States Department of Justice titled Policy Statement Regarding 
Marijuana Issues in Indian Country, which states that the eight 
priorities in "Cole" memorandum will also guide cannabis enforcement 
efforts of US Attorneys in Indian Country.

This memorandum states each United States Attorney should consult 
with the affected tribes on a government-to-government basis when 
evaluating marijuana enforcement activities in Indian Country.

"Our tribal ordinance states that we will arrest any tribal member 
that takes even one seed from our garden," says Canales. "Again, this 
is not about recreational marijuana. We are instituting guidelines 
that are stricter than the requirements of SB 420."

The tribal ordinance states that all applicable taxes under tribal, 
state and federal law shall be collected and paid. A regulatory 
agency will oversee all aspects of the operation - from the type and 
quantity of all effluent to be discharged into the tribe's wastewater 
or storm-water system, the prohibition of adulterating medical 
cannabis with any chemical or other compound to alter color, 
appearance, weight or smell, the prohibition of on-site cannabis 
consumption and the ruling that all products will be produced with 
child-resistant packaging, designed not to mimic candy, cookies or 
other items attractive to children.

As the midsummer sun blazes on the Pinoleville Medical Cannabis 
Project's garden site, a young man holds a staff - pacing in a 
deliberate circle, playing a whistle-like pipe, offering up prayers 
and gratitude, honoring ancestors and invoking Spirit to bless the 
project. "We had a blessing today," says Canales.

Canales envisions many blessings for the tribe and the greater 
community. "We will be making lives better - through the medicines, 
employment opportunities, youth programs, infrastructure 
improvements, donations to local charities and better education and 
housing for our people."

"Our collective is 100 percent tribally owned - a non-profit, formed 
and owned under the authority of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation. We may 
be the first tribal collective in the nation. We'll certainly be the 
first tribe to produce organic cannabis medicine. That's what Mendo 
should be. The first."

Next: Making medicine: Tribal family members provide a pragmatic 
foundation for the medical cannabis project.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom