As New Mexico prepares to launch its legal cannabis market later this year, two tribal communities in the state were reassured that they will be able to take part without federal law enforcement interfering on tribal land, according to agreements with state cannabis regulators signed last week.
The agreements, signed on Friday, outline plans for cooperative oversight of cannabis production and sales in the Picuris and Pojoaque pueblos, according to an Associated Press report. The agreement lays the groundwork for an industry among Native tribes, especially important given that there are 23 federally recognized Native American tribes in New Mexico.
New Mexico’s legal cannabis sales are set to launch on April 1, under legislation signed last year by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
It’s not currently known how many of the other 23 tribes will pursue cannabis commerce
Legalization has brought mixed feelings among state tribes, alongside increasing uncertainty around the priorities of U.S. drug enforcement following actions on reservations. In September 2021, officials raided a household cannabis garden at Picuris Pueblo in northern New Mexico, months after legalization was already in effect.
Bureau of Indian Affairs officers confiscated nine cannabis plants from a home garden, tended by Charles Farden, a local resident since childhood who is not Native American. Farden is enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program and ended up being placed in handcuffs as federal officers seized the mature plants, an estimated year-long personal supply.
“I was just open with the officer, straightforward. When he asked what I was growing, I said, ‘My vegetables, my medical cannabis,’” Farden said. “And he was like, ‘That can be a problem.’”
The raid sparked debate around the law enforcement approach on tribal lands, where the Bureau of Indian Affairs provides policing to enforce federal and tribal laws in an arrangement common in Indian Country.
A BIA special agent later sent a letter to Picuris Pueblo tribal Governor Craig Quanchello, saying the agency won’t tell its officers to stand down in Indian Country.
“Prior notification of law enforcement operations is generally not appropriate,” the letter states. “The BIA Office of Justice Services is obligated to enforce federal law and does not instruct its officers to disregard violations of federal law in Indian Country.”
Tribal enterprises across the country have embraced a variety of approaches, navigating state and federal law while trying to gain their footing in the emerging industry.
As sovereign nations, Native American tribal governments have the power to regulate the cannabis production and sales that take place on their land. New York is in the midst of coordinating similar market moves with its new, up-and-coming legal cannabis market, with the state’s Cayuga Nation preparing to launch their own adult-use cannabis cultivation enterprise.
“Native Americans living on federally recognized, sovereign tribal land are legally allowed to operate dispensaries that are not regulated under the New York State cannabis law,” Freeman Klopott, a spokesperson for the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, told Politico.
Quanchello spoke out after Friday’s agreement with the state of New Mexico, calling it a “collaborative effort to maintain a robust regulatory environment for cannabis” and “an exciting new opportunity to diversify our economic development.
He continues, “Revenues from a Pueblo cannabis enterprise will support tribal governmental programs and the surrounding community.”
The agreement doesn’t relay clear arrangements for excise taxes and may be addressed in separate future agreements. New Mexico is planning to levy an initial 12% tax on recreational cannabis sales, on top of standard sales tax.
The agreement acknowledges that the U.S. Controlled Substances Act will continue to criminalize cannabis but outlines a commitment to a local regulatory system. This system prevents access to cannabis by young people, impaired driving, financial support for criminal networks, adverse health effects or interstate cannabis trafficking.
Tribes will be able to maintain their own cannabis regulations while consulting with the state, and state rules will still apply to cannabis testing, packaging and labeling.
