Wisconsin is a bit of island state, because it hasn’t made the leap to make medical cannabis legal. But that hasn’t stopped several Wisconsin indigenous tribes using their own governance through tribal sovereignty to create dispensaries.
Now state laws in Wisconsin do permit low-THC, high cannabidiol products. However, that’s not the same as a comprehensive medical program that other states like Minnesota and Michigan have created. The Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University’s farm has grown hemp for the past few years.
The first time medical cannabis was introduced in the Wisconsin legislature was back in the 1999-2000 session. Fast forward 25 years later, and there still hasn’t been much progress made with legalization. Jeromy Cowell, the farm director of the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University. He says they are working closely with the researchers at the university of Wisconsin-Madison. Eventually, the hemp plants will have the cannabidiol oil extracted, containing none of the THC psychoactive effects, and use for medical purposes.
“Right now, the farm is just solely focused on the research application. Due to current permitting and within the [USDA] grant’s parameters,” Cowell said. “But working with the LCOU Conservation Department with any additional permitting, we would expand into the personal use hemp plants.”
The 2018 Farm Bill permitted growing industrial hemp containing less than 0.3% THC. With tribal sovereignty though, indigenous nations like the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Superior Ojibwe can grow and sell cannabis. According to the tribe’s leaders, they say it helpa boost a tribe’s economy and the health of residents living on the reservation.
Michael Decorah is a senior intergovernmental affairs specialist with the St. Croix of Chippewa Indians. He’s been working to help educate tribal leaders, legislators and other organizations on the medical benefits of medical cannabis.
“Revenue—sometimes it’s hard to come by up here in northern Wisconsin,” Decorah said. “To have tribes spend money outside their district, outside their people, to have an opportunity to have their people have access to this medical cannabis legally sooner than later. It’s a gamble worth taking.”
The National Institute of Health says it can help people fighting their addictions with substance abuse. Decorah suggested that the state’s legislature could learn more about the therapeutic uses of cannabis from the Wisconsin indigenous tribes.
“We just don’t want to be the last state to do anything. That’s kind of a personal goal of mine. I started this thing in 2014, I was told by a lawmaker that Wisconsin may be the 50th state to do anything,” Decorah said. “So there’s a couple states out there I won’t mention, but I will say that I have hope that something’s going to happen sooner than later.”
So what’s holding Wisconsin back from statewide legalization? According to the Lac Courte Oreilles Vice Chairman, Bill Trepanier it’s because of old perceptions from over half a century ago, that are still around today.
“You know, the stigma of the 70s and the 80s and the Nancy Reagan era. It just pretty much told everyone, ‘Don’t do drugs,’ right? I don’t consider cannabis a drug any longer,” Trepanier said. “It does have large medicinal value. This is something I’d love to bring to the people here, because it does help a lot of people.”
Trepanier says the tribal governing board wants to develop medical cannabis for people living on the reservation and other Wisconsin residents. Although there are some legal obstacles at the state level to establish a dispensary. Specifically, public law 280, which means Wisconsin indigenous tribes have to follow the state’s prohibitive laws involving the plant.
“It’s complicated, because of the laws in Wisconsin. We not only do we have, you know, federal jurisdiction, we on a tribe, we do have state jurisdiction because of Public Law 280, which kind of hinders us further. Where other tribes, they’ve been able to go forward without the state’s blessing because they use their sovereignty.”
As the board handles the legality to provide medical cannabis, the LCO Ojibwe University is finally offering a class for students who want to learn more about the plant this incoming fall semester. Dr. Odawa White, is a professor at the college, and he says the class was created after a successful pilot program visiting another tribe’s hemp growing operations.
“We actually provided an opportunity for students this past summer to actually go to Prairie Island, who just opened one of their dispensaries,” Dr. White said. “It was an opportunity to see what their operation was to gain that hands-on approach to understanding the whole entire process. It was really engaging for students to be part of that.”
Students enrolled in the cannabis science course will also visit the LCO Ojibwe University farm, and learn about how hemp grows.
Jeromy Cowell says hopefully the university farm can grow industrial fiber hemp. That can grown and used for textiles, construction, and even 3d printing.
“We’re pretty close to having a strand that’s Northern Hardy. We would start expanding the size because we’re just doing small test plots right now. Hopefully next year, we’ll be having a larger commercial size field of several acres of industrial fiber hemps. We can then proceed to test the actual fibers.”
The LCO Ojibwe University have a couple spots left for the NAT-106 Cannabis Science course this coming fall semester. The tribe’s governing board is still waiting for the finished architectural plans, before construction can begin for their new dispensary.
