By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
South Dakota's Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe announced over the weekend that it is suspending operations on its planned marijuana resort -- which had been planned for a New Year's Eve opening -- and that it has burned its cannabis crop. The tribe said it was seeking "clarification" from the federal Department of Justice to ensure "the continued success of the marijuana venture."
Federal law isn't the only roadblock for the Santee Sioux marijuana resort plan, reports Phillip Smith at AlterNet. The plan also quickly drew intense opposition from the state's GOP political establishment and law enforcement figures (no surprise there). That brouhaha has brought renewed attention to one of the strangest state marijuana laws in the United States, South Dakota's "internal possession" law.
South Dakota Atty. Gen. Marty Jackley, a Republican, warned not once, but twice, when the tribe announced its plans in June, "South Dakota law prohibits the internal and physical possession, distribution, and manufacture of marijuana by: (1) all non-Indian persons anywhere in South Dakota including within Indian country; (2) all persons, including tribal members, outside of Indian Country."