Tribes gather to discuss legal marijuana

TULALIP, Wash. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Justice's December announcement allowing the nation's Indian tribes to legalize and regulate marijuana on their reservations brought notes of caution - if not silence or opposition - from many tribes.

They were reluctant to consider it given the substance abuse problems that already plague many reservations.

But the attendance at a conference on the topic Friday gave an early indication of just how many might be weighing it.

Representatives from about 75 tribes around the country converged on the Tulalip Indian tribe's resort and casino for a $605-a-head seminar on the regulatory, legal and social issues related to pot legalization.

That's a small fraction of the nation's 566 recognized tribes, and many of the attendees were from smaller tribes looking for a potential economic edge.

Coeur d'Alene Tribe representatives participated in the meeting, according to tribal spokeswoman Heather Keen.

"We do have a couple of tribal representatives attending that conference to learn more about the implications of legalizing marijuana on Indian reservations," Keen said. "It's a fact-finding mission of sorts; the issue is complex and still new, so they're attending with the hopes of learning more about what the Department of Justice's ruling means as well as what some of the social, political, and economic implications such a decision would have before any decisions are made."

Tribes have been wrestling with the idea since the DOJ announced it wouldn't stand in their way if they want to approve pot for medical or recreational use.

The agency said tribes must follow the same law enforcement priorities outlined for states that legalize the drug, including keeping marijuana from the hands of children and criminal elements.

The discussions are intensifying. On Monday, about 200 tribal leaders attended a meeting of the National Congress of American Indians, which included a closed-to-the-press panel discussion with DOJ officials on marijuana legalization in Indian country, said Demitri Downing, a former prosecutor for the Tohono O'odham tribe in southern Arizona, who now advises tribes on regulatory issues related to pot.

The topic also is on the agenda of a major tribal economic summit in Las Vegas next month, he said.

"We have to take a look at it," said Seth Pearman, an attorney for the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe in South Dakota. "The economic opportunity is just astronomical - it would be almost negligent to miss out on this."

He said tribal leaders already are drafting regulations for a marijuana industry, and they toured some dispensaries on their trip to Washington state for the conference.

The event was organized by Robert Odawi Porter, a tribal law expert and former president of the Seneca Nation in New York, and Seattle attorneys Hilary Bricken and Robert McVay, who have hosted other conferences on legal pot.

Topics of discussion included the big business potential for pot, as well as concerns about substance abuse on reservations and the potential creation of a tribal cannabis association.

Representatives of several tribes said they were considering legalizing or regulating cannabis for medical use. They said they were intrigued by the idea that making pot more accessible might help reduce abuse of methamphetamine or prescription drugs among tribal members.

"We're looking at what the benefits are, not only with revenue but with the medical relief we can give to our elders," said Lewis Taylor, chairman of the St. Croix Tribe of Wisconsin.

"Historically we've always had the medicine man, and they've always prescribed herbal medicine," he said. "We want to make sure we're in a legal framework to do this."

Press staff writer Jeff Selle contributed to this report.