From WXPR by Hannah Davis-Reid November 8 2024
The Lac du Flambeau tribe just got approval from the USDA to cultivate hemp.
They want to open a CBD store by this spring.
The USDA reports farmers planted 870 acres of hemp in open fields in 2022 in Wisconsin.
The Lac du Flambeau cannabis operation has been in the works for around two years, and they just got approval from the USDA to cultivate CBD and hemp.
In July, voters in Lac du Flambeau passed an industrial hemp ordinance to “regulate and control the Cultivation of Industrial Hemp and the sale of Industrial Hemp Products.”
Any business can now grow and distribute industrial hemp, provided that they obtain a license through the Tribal Compliance and Regulatory Commission on registered lands on the Lac du Flambeau reservation.
Cannabidiols, or CBDs, can be extracted from the plant tissue of industrial hemp.
The Lac du Flambeau Business Development Corporation plans to open a CBD store by the spring.
Zachary Allen is the Lac du Flambeau Business Development Corporation’s Marketing and Public Relations Director.
He explains that they’ve run into some regulatory issues but that the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association has helped out.
“They kind of had been leading the charge in trying to help with some of these regulatory hurdles that, again, not only us are dealing with, but other tribes within the state of Wisconsin, and everything from banking regulations to operational regulations, tribal sovereignty issues,” said Allen.
Candace Thomspon is the Chair of Cultivation and Retail Operations at the Business Development Corporation for the tribe.
“Our plan is to sell buds and flowers and oils, vapes, all of that, we’re still trying to figure out exactly what, though, because we are running into problems with banking actually,” she said.
Thompson explained that while CBD is legal, many banks still consider it too risky to do business with.
That’s why they’ve been working with groups like the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association and the Wisconsin Indigenous Cannabis Task-Force who can provide more support.
They have a lobbyist that is trying to push to legalize medical marijuana with a proposal in January to the state.
Allen explains that the community feels legalization is needed.
“A lot of community members view this as something that is medicinal, and trying to get away from Big Pharma in regards to opioid addiction and stuff like that,” said Allen.
Industrial hemp and marijuana are varieties of the same plant species, but they differ in chemical composition and legal status.
THC, or the psychoactive component varies; hemp has a 0.3% THC content or less, while marijuana is a cannabis plant with more than 0.3% THC.
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