Tribe has no marijuana plans

 DES MOINES — Representatives of the Nebraska-based Omaha Tribe told Iowa officials this week they have 'no intentions of doing anything with marijuana' after a non-binding referendum in which tribal members supported marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes and growing plants for industrial hemp.

Rod Roberts, director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, said the topic was discussed briefly during Wednesday's meeting on compact issues between the state and tribe pertaining to the Blackbird Bend Casino the tribe owns and operates near Onawa in western Iowa.

'It was stated very clearly and forthrightly that the tribe has no intentions of doing anything with marijuana at the present time,' Roberts said Friday. 'We take people at their word and simply asked that if anything were to change that they would communicate with us or with whomever the appropriate party would be in state government, and they indicated they would do that.'

Maurice Johnson, attorney general for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, declined to comment on Wednesday's meeting, saying it was a confidential discussion.

But he said a number of inaccuracies have spread since his tribe held non-binding and advisory votes that he characterized as 'straw polls' to gauge tribal members' attitudes toward marijuana.

'That referendum did not authorize the tribal council to move to decriminalize marijuana, hemp or allow it for recreational use. Rather it just said do you favor allowing it,' said Johnson, who noted that marijuana and hemp remain illegal under the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska's criminal code.

'Like any other tribe of course we're studying this and may commission a feasibility study with regard to whether or not this is feasible or not,' Johnson added.

'Before any cultivation or sale of marijuana or hemp begins — if it is ever to be cultivated or sold — the tribe will conduct a feasibility study to determine the economics, logistics, and regulatory environment within which such cultivation or sale would exist,' he said in an email. 'To report that the tribe plans on opening a venue for the sale of marijuana to the public is just plain wrong.'

Johnson said the tribe intends to coordinate and confer with the U.S. attorneys for Iowa and Nebraska and the attorneys general for both Iowa and Nebraska.

The Omaha Tribe is based in Nebraska, but its reservation extends across the Missouri River into western Monona County in Iowa due to shifts in the Missouri River's channel over the years.

'We're looking at it. If I had a plan in mind, then I'll sit down with the U.S. attorney in Iowa when I have something concrete to say,' Johnson noted. 'We're so early in the stages. All we did was pass a referendum.'