Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jul 2015
Source: Rapid City Journal (SD)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1029
Author: Dave Kolpack
Referenced: http://mapinc.org/people/White+Plume

EX-US ATTORNEY WANTS FEDS TO ALLOW HEMP ON SD RESERVATION

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The former U.S. attorney in North Dakota decided 
to take on his former employer by filing a motion Thursday to lift an 
11-year-old federal injunction that prevents a man from growing 
industrial hemp on a South Dakota reservation.

Timothy Purdon, who now works for a Minneapolis-based law firm, 
contacted the U.S. attorney's office in South Dakota several months 
ago in an effort to allow Oglala Sioux Nation member Alex White Plume 
to produce hemp, as the tribe legalized the crop in 1998 and last 
year's federal farm bill allowed hemp to be grown through state 
agriculture departments and college research stations.

Federal prosecutors rejected his proposal, so Purdon filed his first 
motion in federal court since he left the DOJ in March.

"As a former U.S. attorney, I love the people at the Department of 
Justice," said Purdon, the top federal prosecutor in North Dakota for 
almost five years. "But they are just wrong on the tribal sovereignty 
issue here.

"There is no reason that an industrial hemp farmer on the Pine Ridge 
Indian Reservation should be treated differently than an industrial 
hemp farmer in Kentucky," Purdon said. "We are hopeful the court will 
lift this injunction, which is a relic from an old, failed era of 
industrial hemp regulation."

Randolph Seiler, acting U.S. attorney for South Dakota, declined 
comment. But in an earlier letter to Purdon, he said South Dakota law 
does not allow the production of hemp and there is not an exception 
in the farm bill where industrial hemp is authorized under tribal law 
and not state law.

Hemp can be used to make clothing, lotion and many other products, 
but growing it has been illegal under federal law because it is a 
type of cannabis plant and looks like marijuana. Many states have 
recently defined industrial hemp, which does not produce a high, as 
distinct from marijuana in order to allow its production.

The White Plume family, including Alex and his brother, Percy, 
planted hemp for three years from 2000 through 2002, but never 
harvested a crop. Federal agents conducted raids and cut down the 
plants each year. The injunction was ordered in December 2004.

Alex White Plume could not be reached for comment Thursday, but said 
in a June interview with The Associated Press that the federal 
government is violating treaties dating back 160 years.

"They should recognize our tribal sovereignty," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom