MILWAUKEE, WI (AP)-- The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin has sued the U.S. Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Agency over the right to grow industrial hemp — a crop related to marijuana — on reservation lands.
Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw says the Menominee should have the same ability as states to cultivate hemp under the Agricultural Act of 2014.
The legislation recognizes a distinction between marijuana and hemp, which can be used to manufacture a range of products and has no psychoactive effect.
The tribe says it had established a hemp crop and that it was wrongfully destroyed last month in a raid that included federal authorities.
Acting U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad has said the crop was more than just hemp and that agents seized about 30,000 marijuana plants.
