{"id":6930,"date":"2016-11-01T08:03:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T08:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=5349"},"modified":"2016-11-01T08:03:26","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T08:03:26","slug":"hemp-gold-mine-for-native-american-tribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/hemp-gold-mine-for-native-american-tribes\/","title":{"rendered":"Hemp \u2013 Gold Mine For Native American Tribes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/hemp-gold-mine-for-native-american-tribes\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Casinos on Native American land have poured billions into tribal economies since the late 1980s, lifting many people from poverty. Now, some hope, cultivating industrial hemp could do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Under U.S. law, hemp &#8211; which comes from the same family of plants that produce marijuana &#8211; can be grown only for research, with a permit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Department of Justice opened the door for hemp cultivation by Native American tribes in 2014 when it agreed that tribes can set cannabis-related laws just as states can.<\/p>\n<p>Native American-owned CannaNative LLC said on Monday it was in final talks with the Navajo Nation, the largest federally recognized tribe, to grow industrial hemp.<\/p>\n<p>Hemp is used in a wide variety of products, from food to construction materials, but typically contains less than 1 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) &#8211; the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant. <\/p>\n<p>But while more than half of U.S. states allow cannabis use, federal law still categorizes all cannabis varieties, including hemp, as a dangerous drug with no medicinal value.<\/p>\n<p>Currently there is no large-scale commercial hemp production in the United States, which depends on imports.<\/p>\n<p>The Hemp Industries Association (HIA) estimates that the total U.S. retail value of hemp products in 2013 was $581 million, although the Congressional Research Service says the numbers are under-reported.<\/p>\n<p>The estimate does not include sales by the two major retailers of hemp-based products, L&#8217;Oreal SA&#8217;s The Body Shop and Whole Foods Market Inc.<\/p>\n<p>CannaNative has already struck a deal with cannabis products maker Medical Marijuana Inc to produce the first hemp oil products for more than 560 Native American tribes.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it is in talks with the Navajo Nation to begin growing hemp on reservation land in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The industrial hemp project could probably overtake Indian gaming, not only in terms of employment but also in terms of revenue to the Navajo,&#8221; said Al Henderson, a senior Navajo economic adviser, noting that the 360,000-member tribe had an unemployment rate of 40-50 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson did not provide data on the tribe&#8217;s gaming revenue, but the National Indian Gaming Commission estimates that the overall tribal casino industry generated nearly $30 billion in gaming revenue last year.<\/p>\n<p>Growing industrial hemp is an opportunity for the aging Native American population to go back to its roots with plant-based medicine and reduce dependence on the American taxpayer, CannaNative CEO Anthony Rivera told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t wait for the federal government &#8230; so we are working with tribes to pass their own laws in consultation with federal authorities to demonstrate that we are doing this legally and responsibly,&#8221; Rivera said.<\/p>\n<p>For Medical Marijuana Inc (MMI), which sells hemp oil, a deal with the Navajo Nation could help move hemp cultivation to the United States from Europe and cut costs by more than 25 percent, Chief Executive Stu Titus told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our goal is to plant our initial pilot program test crop in the spring of 2017 in the Navajo Nation,&#8221; Titus said.<\/p>\n<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/hemp-gold-mine-for-native-american-tribes.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Katelyn Baker <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\" target=\"_blank\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-nativeamericans-hemp-idUSKCN12O2CU\" target=\"_blank\">Hemp May Be Next Gold Mine For Native American Tribes<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Natalie Grover<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"https:\/\/reuters.zendesk.com\/home\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Issei Kato<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Casinos on Native American land have poured billions into tribal economies since the late 1980s, lifting many people from poverty.&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2016\/10\/hemp-gold-mine-native-american-tribes\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1607,9,1,3],"tags":[4175],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}