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Native American Tribes Meet to Talk Legal Pot

© Flickr / Coleen WhitfieldIndian tribes have the ability to legalize and regulate marijuana on reservations.
Indian tribes have the ability to legalize and regulate marijuana on reservations. - Sputnik International
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Representatives of about 75 Native American tribes from around the country met in Washington state to discuss issues related to the potential legalization of pot on their reservations.

The United States Justice Department announced in December that it would allow the nation's Indian tribes to legalize and regulate marijuana on reservations.

On Friday, a small fraction of the nation’s 566 tribes were at the Tulalip Indian Tribes' resort and casino for a $605-a-head seminar on the regulatory, legal and social issues related to pot legalization, the Associated Press reported.

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"A great deal more are considering this than I thought would be considering it," said Ken Meshigaud, chairman of the Hannahville Indian Community, a band of the Potawatomi Tribe on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "From an economic standpoint, it may be a good venture the tribes can get into."

Tulalip Vice Chairman Les Parks called it "a dream of another point of self-sufficiency on our reservations."

"That's what marijuana can do for us," he told the AP.

A lot have of tribes have approached pot legalization with hesitancy, given the substance abuse problems that already plague many reservations.

Tribes would be required to follow the same laws governing marijuana use as states that legalize the drug. That includes keeping marijuana out of the hands of children and criminal elements.

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 Justice Department officials on marijuana legalization, the AP reported.

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

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"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 Washington state dispensaries on their trip.

Some tribes are hesitant to legalize pot if it the drug is not already legal in that state.

"They can sell to non-Indians, but the second they leave the reservation they get arrested. That's not a great business model," said Chris Stearns, a Navajo and the chairman of the Washington State Gambling Commission.

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