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Lexington, Kentucky
November 24, 2000
Lakota Indians Defying DEA; Accepts KY Co-op's Offer to Replace
Destroyed Hemp Crop
Contact: KHGCA Executive Director Joe Hickey (859) 277-5115
Last August 24, in the centuries-old tradition of trampling on Native
American rights, armed DEA agents invaded sovereign Lakota land and
confiscated two hemp crops growing on the poverty-stricken Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation. The hemp was to be a vital source for construction
materials to be used by the Slim Butte Land Association housing project,
a community-based economic development initiative.
The DEA's seizure of the property was in accordance with federal policy,
based on the premise that hemp and marijuana are the same. Despite the
DEA's destruction of this crop, the Lakota Housing Project will soon be
back on schedule.
Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) members and representatives of the land use
cooperative have accepted the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative's offer
to help replace a portion of the hemp destroyed in the DEA's war on
drugs. Tom Cook, the project's coordinator says, " We will soon be going
to Kentucky in an effort to demonstrate how absurd and destructive this
so-called 'drug war' has become. Essentially, we are picking-up exactly
the same material destroyed by the DEA - that's absurd. We aren't going
to let their foolishness stop our progress."
The Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative's president, Andrew Graves, agrees
the state and federal governments are overstepping the bounds of reason
by equating hemp with marijuana. "Even though Kentucky's Supreme Court
ruled hemp 'is' marijuana, we continue to import hemp here from Canada.
Isn't it ironic the hemp we imported is now going to replace the hemp
destroyed by the same federal government which allows its importation?"
asked Graves.
Former OST President Joe American Horse asked, "Why did the DEA have to
destroy our legitimate commercial crop? Why didn't they go a few hours
eastward where thousands of acres of hemp are growing? Why pick on
Indians? We are trying to make a living. We are not promoting drugs."
Alex White Plume, whose crop was destroyed, believes the DEA's actions
helped, not hurt their efforts to develop a sustainable building program
on the reservation. "The very fact that people are coming forward to
help us has been overwhelming and gives us hope for the future," he
said.
Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn will present Joe American Horse with the
Kentucky/Canadian hemp in a ceremony on November 28, 2000 highlighting
the need for some common sense regulations of industrial hemp in the
United States. Gov. Nunn said, "I intend on traveling with the Indian
delegation back to the Pine Ridge Reservation in an effort to help
educate the public along the way about the potential benefits of this
historical crop and to demonstrate that we all need to work together to
help develop an agricultural and economic future that will better serve
all people." (END)
Time and location of the presentation will be announced Sunday, November
26, 2000.
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