torresdD
2007-07-11 07:48:13 UTC
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6771465,00.html
S.D. Farmer Struggling to Grow Hemp
Wednesday July 11, 2007 7:31 AM
By CHET BROKAW
Associated Press Writer
MANDERSON, S.D. (AP) -
Alex White Plume hoped his family
could make a living growing hemp when
he first planted seeds on an Indian
reservation here,
but years of fighting with federal drug
officials have left him in financial trouble.
The White Plume family planted hemp on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from
2000 to 2002, but never harvested a crop.
Federal agents conducted raids and
cut down the plants because U.S.
law considers hemp,
a cousin of marijuana,
to be a drug even though it contains
only a trace of tetrahydrocannabinol,
or THC, a banned substance also
found in marijuana.
``We had all these plans of
grandeur and independence,
to lead the way with industrial hemp,''
White Plume said.
``None of it worked out.''
White Plume plans to sell much of
his ranching operation this fall.
He said he probably can keep his
house and at least some of the
buffalo that graze among the
pine-dotted ridges that give
the reservation its name.
His horses,
a truck with license plates reading
``HEMP'' and other equipment likely
will be sold to pay off some of his debts.
Even though White Plume
lost a court case last year,
he is ready to resume the
cultivation of hemp if the
federal government ever allows it.
The plant,
which is used to make rope,
oils, lotion, cloth and other products,
could help boost the economy of the
Oglala Sioux Tribe's poverty-stricken
reservation,
where unemployment is estimated
to be as high as 85 percent, he said.
In 1998, the tribe passed a measure
legalizing the growing of hemp on
the reservation in the southwest
corner of South Dakota.
The law should have been enough
to allow hemp farming because of
the sovereignty granted to the
Lakota by treaties, White Plume said.
S.D. Farmer Struggling to Grow Hemp
Wednesday July 11, 2007 7:31 AM
By CHET BROKAW
Associated Press Writer
MANDERSON, S.D. (AP) -
Alex White Plume hoped his family
could make a living growing hemp when
he first planted seeds on an Indian
reservation here,
but years of fighting with federal drug
officials have left him in financial trouble.
The White Plume family planted hemp on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from
2000 to 2002, but never harvested a crop.
Federal agents conducted raids and
cut down the plants because U.S.
law considers hemp,
a cousin of marijuana,
to be a drug even though it contains
only a trace of tetrahydrocannabinol,
or THC, a banned substance also
found in marijuana.
``We had all these plans of
grandeur and independence,
to lead the way with industrial hemp,''
White Plume said.
``None of it worked out.''
White Plume plans to sell much of
his ranching operation this fall.
He said he probably can keep his
house and at least some of the
buffalo that graze among the
pine-dotted ridges that give
the reservation its name.
His horses,
a truck with license plates reading
``HEMP'' and other equipment likely
will be sold to pay off some of his debts.
Even though White Plume
lost a court case last year,
he is ready to resume the
cultivation of hemp if the
federal government ever allows it.
The plant,
which is used to make rope,
oils, lotion, cloth and other products,
could help boost the economy of the
Oglala Sioux Tribe's poverty-stricken
reservation,
where unemployment is estimated
to be as high as 85 percent, he said.
In 1998, the tribe passed a measure
legalizing the growing of hemp on
the reservation in the southwest
corner of South Dakota.
The law should have been enough
to allow hemp farming because of
the sovereignty granted to the
Lakota by treaties, White Plume said.