The Pinoleville Pomo Nation made headlines earlier this year when they announced that they will be growing medical marijuana on their reservation.<\/p>\n
Aided by a Kansas company called FoxBarry that helps Native American tribes develop for-profit ventures, and United Cannabis, a Colorado company that develops strains of pot, the Pinoleville Pomo Nation set out to make history.<\/p>\n
Although the partnership with FoxBarry and United Cannabis would be short lived, the Pinoleville marijuana farm was well on its way to being the first large-scale medical pot cultivation and distribution enterprise on tribal land in California.<\/p>\n
The new operation, on their sovereign land, would benefit those in need as well as create jobs and revenue for the downtrodden tribe. It was a win-win.<\/p>\n
However, this mutually beneficial endeavor would be short-lived thanks to tyrants whose job it is to attack people for growing and selling a plant to willing customers.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, courageous deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff\u2019s Office invaded the sovereign nation and trespassed on native land to destroy everything that this tribe has built.<\/p>\n
According to the Press Democrat:<\/p>\n
Deputies eradicated some 400 pot plants from an outdoor location. At another location, they began dismantling a \u201chighly sophisticated\u201d chemical laboratory where honey oil \u2014 a sticky, concentrated pot product used to make edible medicine\u2014 was being manufactured under the auspices of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, said Sheriff\u2019s Capt. Greg Van Patten. More than 100 pounds of trimmed and drying marijuana also was found inside the laboratory building, a former car dealership on North State Street.
\nThe tribal leaders immediately denounced the raid, stating that their operation was legal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what they\u2019re doing is not right,\u201d said Nori Baldridge, the tribe\u2019s director of economic development. \u201cThis is sovereign land, and this is a sovereign nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were shocked,\u201d said Mike Canales, president of the tribe\u2019s business board.<\/p>\n
Canales rightfully contests the legal basis for the raid as the Sheriff\u2019s department does not have any authority over the tribal land or its people.<\/p>\n
Van Patten attempted to justify his tyrannical invasion of the tribe\u2019s sovereign land by claiming their operation violated some arbitrary limit of 25 pot plants per parcel. However, they later determined that the tribe did not violate the policy, so Van Patten backpedaled, claiming that the raid was justified due to the \u201csheer size\u201d of the grow operation.<\/p>\n