While the rest of the nation debates whether to allow industrial hemp farming, the Navajo Nation is already planning for the first crop. Some are hoping that the controversial plant will help bring money to Native American reservations, the same way that casinos have, says Reuters.
“Under U.S. law, hemp — which comes from the same family of plants that produce marijuana — can be grown only for research, with a permit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,” says Reuters. “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.”
The Native-American-owned company CannaNative has partnered with the cannabis products company Medical Marijuana Inc. to develop hemp-oil products for more than 560 Native American tribes, says Reuters. If current negations go well between CannaNative and the Navajo Nation, a pilot project will likely launch in 2017 on Navajo land in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. These farms could create much-needed jobs — 40-50 percent of the tribe is unemployed.
Although marijuana is now permitted in more than half the states, federal law categorizes hemp as a dangerous drug with no medicinal value, even though, it “typically contains less than 1 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant,” says Reuters. Hemp is used in food products, as well as a fiber and construction material.