Category Archives: Mary Jane

By Canby Huka, for Southdacola.com

While the Flandreau and Brookings police and the attorney general have been telling us about all the (criminal) ills of marijuana legalization on tribal land, I was curious if anyone with the tribe had concerns about what they were doing and any changes they would make when having a bunch of stoners wondering their campus.

I spoke with the tribes’ Robert Left Handed Pipe, he is in charge of monitoring the affect the marijuana use will have on visitors.

“I think one of our biggest concerns is whether or not we can still have all you can eat crab legs at the casino anymore. You, know, the ocean called, they want their crab legs back!”

Besides the binge eating, I asked him about the concerns of law enforcement that these people will be driving after toking up.

“Well you know Canby, we actually kind of got a chuckle out of that one. I guess the way I look at it, if you can’t even get the keys in the ignition of your car, it’s gonna be kind of hard to drive away. Our stuff is that good.”

So I asked Robert what kind of entertainment was going to be provided at the ‘smoker’s lounge’?

“We are using the bowling alley for our smoking lounge, so we intend to keep it as a bowling alley, think Big Lebowski, but without the White Russians. We are going to call it ‘Bowls & Bowling’.”

Robert also told me about other pre-cautions they will be taking including a Visine station at the exit and a booth for people who get paranoid and have an anxiety attack.

“We are going to put an interesting twist on it, it’s going to be a money booth similar to the casino, we figured if these people are freaking out, they might as well have fun with it, oh, and helmets will be provided.”

So while the regional law enforcement may have concerns about the tribal consumption of marijuana, the tribe is implementing their own precautions. Which left to my last question about the attorney general’s opinion that non-tribal members will not be able to purchase and consume the product on tribal land.

“We pretty much disagree with AG Jackboots on that opinion. In fact, we sent a letter to him expressing our dissatisfaction in his beliefs.”

I wondered how Jackboots took the letter, Robert responded, “Not sure, we signed it ‘Gueux Fukihannas Yulu’.” Which translates from Lakota to ‘Go F**k Yourself’.

Like the Attorney General’s concern over pot on tribal land in Flandreau, this article is also a joke.

I’m glad to see the Santee Sioux Tribe exploring this;

Here is the full statement from tribal attorney Seth Pearman:

“Thank you again for coming to Flandreau to report on the Tribe’s marijuana announcement. On Friday, May 8, 2015, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe Executive Committee, while in session, established a wholly owned limited liability company with the purpose of pursuing recreational marijuana and hemp on the Tribe’s reservation. The Tribe has not legalized marijuana in any form yet, and is in the process of preparing an ordinance to regulate any growth and consumption on the Reservation. It too has meet with several reputable companies to consult with the Tribe, and is finalizing selection of a company. The consideration of legalizing marijuana on the Reservation was prompted by an October 24, 2014 Department of Justice Memorandum regarding marijuana enforcement in Indian Country. (Attached) Economic Development is a paramount consideration of the Tribe, and the Tribe looks diligently into different ventures that would create economic stability for the Tribe and its members. As the Tribe continues to pursue marijuana legalization, it will provide more detailed information to the public.”

Not only in tax dollars for prosecution and incarceration, but in lives.

This latest case of just one drug robbery gone bad (over marijuana) has produced this;

• Prosecution of 3 conspiritors and a murderer
• One person dead, another injured
• Probably over a million dollars in prosecution costs and incarceration

This was ONE incident over the greed and hysteria caused by people dealing weed. Heck, we even had a shoot-out in the streets of Sioux Falls over people stealing weed from each other, which could have resulted in more people dead, including police officers. It is going on across the country, and other states are realizing the war just isn’t worth it anymore, and are seizing a tax revenue source in the process instead more costs in prosecution to taxpayers. In fact, one little town in Colorado has experienced a monthly sales tax increase of $44,000 a month and are using the windfall to fix their streets instead of building bigger jails and courtrooms.

While I support medical marijuana legalization in South Dakota, I encourage the petitioners to go whole hog instead, and support a measure that also legalizes recreational usage. I actually believe such a measure would get more support than just medical (it has failed twice on the ballot in SD).

I’ve seen many lives ruined because of marijuana, a (natural) drug that has been proven to be much less harmful then alcohol (a narcotic) and could be sold legally to create a tax revenue source for counties struggling with tight budgets when it comes to legal services.

Lives ruined because of the insatiable desire to make felons out of people who smoke a plant.

There are also other benefits besides medical and homeopathic. It is also an incredible agriculture product that can be grown in its NON-THC form, Hemp, to be used in clothing, essential oils and can even be burned producing as much energy heat as coal. The uses are endless.

I have often believed that cannabis is a true gift from God that we have bastardized because of the greed of our prison systems and the pharmaceutical industry. This pointless greed has hit home, and we must use the Lebeau incident as a lesson in how we can take something bad like botched drug deals, and turn them into a positive, to help the sick, the state coffers and the agriculture industry. Let’s pull our heads out of the sand in this country and state and use this amazing gift to our benefit.