No, Virginia, there is no legal hemp on Nation
WINDOW ROCK
A company growing hemp on the Navajo Nation has jumped the gun.
That’s according to President Jonathan Nez, who said in an exclusive interview with the Navajo Times Tuesday that the Native American Agriculture Company, run by Congressional candidate Dineh Benally, does not have permission from the tribe to grow and market hemp.
Karen Ellsworth, who is handling marketing for the company, told the Times last week the company has contracted with farmers in the Shiprock area to grow 300 acres of cannabis under the authority of the Shiprock Farm Board.
After the article came out, Ellsworth said she did not know the interview was on the record and the 300 acres was “just a number I threw out.” However, sources in the Shiprock area confirm there is hemp being grown on the Nation.
Nez said the company appears to be using the 2018 Farm Bill, which deregulated hemp, as the authority to grow it, but the Navajo Nation still needs to put regulations in place for the close relative of marijuana.
The only difference between hemp and marijuana is the content of THC, the psychoactive component that gives marijuana users a “high.” Hemp has less than three percent THC.
“The recent farm bill indicates that tribes do have the sovereign ability to regulate hemp production,” Nez said. “The fact that we do not yet have rules in place does not mean that it is legal for anyone to grow it.”
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow