Trump AG Pledges To Review Tribe’s Legal Marijuana Sales As Administration Separately Considers Rescheduling

The Trump administration’s attorney general told senators on Tuesday that
she’s committed to reviewing an Indian tribe’s practices related to the
legal marijuana sales program it has launched on reservation lands. She
also pledged to look into an app a GOP senator flagged that helps connect
people to legal cannabis businesses across state lines.

During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sen.
Thom Tillis (R-NC) asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about cannabis policy
issues, focusing on the sale of marijuana on Eastern Band of the Cherokee
Indians (EBCI) land within his state of North Carolina that he said he has
“no problem with” generally—but that he still finds “concerning” with
respect to the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.

“Nearly three dozen states [have] either medical, recreational or hybrid”
cannabis models, the senator said. “But this kind of feels like to me, the
way the tobacco industry got attacked for advertising to young people.”

“This is just this worries me, because it’s a money-making enterprise. It
kind of seems like it’s preying on younger people,” he said, pointing to an
app that he claims allows people in states that prohibit cannabis to order
marijuana products in a legal jurisdiction and then pick it up after
crossing state boundaries.

“I assume that they’re not delivering it outside of the boundary, because I
think that would be illegal. Would that be illegal?” Tillis asked.

Bondi thanked the senator for “pointing that out” and said she was “not
familiar with that app that we will certainly look at.”

Tillis then presented a “hypothetical” for the attorney general, inquiring
about whether it would be federally illegal if cannabis was imported into a
port in North Carolina, where it’s prohibited, and then transported to a
legal state such as New York.

“Is that an illegal transportation of a controlled substance—unless it
teleports into a legal jurisdiction, wouldn’t it have been illegally
transported at some point?” he asked.

Bondi replied: “Based on federal law [that’s true], senator.”

“Are you familiar with the science of teleportation?” Tillis asked jokingly.

“No, senator,” the attorney general said.

“There’s a growing operation of western North Carolina that is a part of
the tribal lands. The problem is, I can’t find any legal way to get this
pot that is grown here to the dispensary that’s at another non-contiguous
area of the boundaries,” Tillis said. “I’m just trying to figure out how
the Eastern Band of the Cherokee are legally transporting what they’re
growing at scale here to where they’re advertising in Charlotte on the
billboards as one of the country’s largest dispensaries—and apparently also
offering to let you buy it online.”

“Can I get your commitment within the DOJ—not you personally—but can I just
get a definitive answer, that there’s no there-there that they are legally
transporting it, or that we do have something here that doesn’t seem to
comport with federal law?” he asked.

“Yes, senator, I will absolutely have my team look at that issue,” Bondi
said. “And I’m not familiar with that establishment.”

“Like I said, it’s an island. I really think the federal government needs
to step up. We need to get rid of this neither fish nor fowl sort of status
that marijuana has in this country now,” the senator said. “I think that
people have spoken many red states, even your home state—my home state has,
I think probably the many states… are trending towards legalizing it.”

“We’ve got to get it solved at the federal level. We’ve got to capture
revenue,” he said. “That revenue needs to go back to federal law
enforcement, and we need to have a lot more focus on what I think are
unsafe and inconsistent practices across the state. So if I could get that,
I would appreciate it.”

A recent infographic from an advocacy group representing Native American
tribes in the legal cannabis industry showed that more than a fourth of
Indigenous communities in the continental U.S., including the Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians, are now involved with marijuana or hemp programs.

Tillis also said last month that the federal government needs to “step up”
and explore a regulatory framework for marijuana—and that should include a
pathway to explore the “efficacy” of cannabis for certain health conditions.

At a separate Judiciary Committee hearing in June, Tillis said opponents of
marijuana legalization “have lost” the fight to maintain prohibition and
that “it’s time” for lawmakers to address that reality by creating a
regulatory framework treating cannabis “in the same way that we do with
alcohol and tobacco,” so that states can set their own policies without
federal intervention.

Back in February, the senator also raised the issue during a Senate Banking
Committee hearing, saying “we should reexamine [federal marijuana laws].” But
at the same time, “we damn sure shouldn’t do it by passing” legislation
that would simply prevent federal regulators from penalizing banks that
work with state-legal cannabis businesses.

During her confirmation hearings, meanwhile, Bondi declined to say how she
planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as Florida’s attorney
general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis in the state.

Tillis also said last December that he’s hopeful Congress will have a
“discussion” about potentially creating a federal regulatory framework for
marijuana in 2025, though he added that he personally wouldn’t vote to
federally legalize cannabis.

Last year, the senator also said he supports creating a “comprehensive
regulatory framework that treats marijuana just like tobacco,” arguing that
“the federal government needs to figure out a safe way to allow this market
to occur.”

Tillis in April joined Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) in asking federal, state and
local officials what steps they were taking to enforce marijuana prohibition as
an Indian tribe prepared to launch recreational cannabis sales on its lands
within North Carolina.

Separately, Trump’s nominee for White House drug czar, Sara Carter, told
members of the Judiciary Committee at a hearing last month that the
administration is keeping “all options” on the table as it continues to
consider the marijuana rescheduling proposal, while describing cannabis
reform as a “bipartisan issue.”

Three GOP senators discussed the impact of the administration potentially
rescheduling cannabis in interviews with Marijuana Moment last with, with
two of them describing the move as a “game changer.”

Meanwhile, one of Trump’s longtime advisors, Roger Stone, recently said
that his administration has an opportunity to move forward with marijuana
rescheduling—or, even broader legalization—in a way that Democrats who
regularly tout the reform failed to achieve when they controlled the White
House and Congress.

The comments came in response to the president’s social media post late
last month where he shared a video that touted the health benefits of
hemp-derived CBD, particular for seniors.

The Republican Senate sponsor of a bipartisan cannabis banking bill said
recently that Trump rescheduling marijuana would be an “important domino”
to advance his legislation.

Whether Trump ultimately decides to move forward with rescheduling remains
to be seen. Despite his endorsement of the policy change on the campaign
trail ahead of his election for a second term, he declined to restate that
support when asked about it during a briefing late last month—though he did
say a decision would come within weeks.

*Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.*

The post Trump AG Pledges To Review Tribe’s Legal Marijuana Sales As
Administration Separately Considers Rescheduling appeared first on Marijuana
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