and then came the pot....

08/14/2023

Attn: Leech Lake Legal Department and Leech Lake Council

RE: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Cannabis Regulatory Act?

First, we have been made aware of the complications that arise from the providing of cannabis and how the transition will be by observing White Earth Reservation, as well as the traffic of individuals seeking the free use by observing Red Lake. After the state of Colorado set forth with legalization we have seen the homeless population increase. When I visited the streets of Denver during the spring of 2019. I was shown around by a few of the locals who were homeless who were willing to share their perspective. The random people that I had met were not from the state originally and had come due to the legalization. None of them were over the age of 30 and were male. They informed me of their issues with finding a safe place to sleep, how they would make money through theft of the local stores, and I even watched a cell phone get stolen while it was charging at a charge station provided to the public. This in itself proves that catering to those travelers who are in need of such things, while traveling with the high likelihood of their travel due to the substance, created the ability for property of travelers to become vulnerable, so if consideration for the comforts of those who will come was catered to, even if security were to be provided, there would always be a way to adjust to but manageable for those in need to do what is required for their personal survival.

Second, if there was any good to come from this that the Federal and State government had considered, they would have already done the research and forecasted for the results by observing what is already in place in Los Angeles as a large city, and Colorado as an entire state. They have enough proof of what to expect since legalization in Colorado in January of 2014. During my trip in 2019, I also visited Los Angeles for a short period. I was taken to a dispensary and given a tour by a woman I had met prior to arriving in Los Angeles who was a local from nearby Bakersfield. Around the mass travel stations of the trains, bus and airport is where the density of homeless people were located, and of course where the most successful dispensaries were located. Judging from what’s called “Tent City” around the Cedar Avenue area that is near to Heart of the Earth community and healthcare facilities of Indian Health Service, we can be certain that with the provision of this substance, the expected result comes with the responsibility of the flood of people whom have Federal and State rights to provide shelter and comfort for life that require judicial process in order to move or even vacate them from even public or privately owned property, and matters regarding “squatters” is not an area that Leech Lake Tribal Court, nor the surrounding county Court’s caseload need increase of.

Third, the current situation being only a police matter is not being addressed by any government whatsoever. This is in regard to the drugs from pharmaceutical medicines as being tolerable. In October of 2013 with the decision to stop providing the opiate synthetic Oxycontin and Oxycodone, which later resulted in the creation of the drug Oxymorphone Opana. Within the first seven days of the first attempt to pull this drug off the market, there was the first report of heroin overdose in the Onigum community to a young man only of the age of 12. Since that time, the senior population of the Reservation has found acceptance to provide the substances of Percocet, Xanax, Ambien, Vicodin, to the younger generations as a way to either provide for their entertainment at the Casino’s, or it being the reason for the interaction of the two age groups who are most beneficial to each other (seniors and ages 12 to 35). The most obvious observation is what is already in place, and proving to cause more harm by assisting a problem to be longer term than if there was no use of, are the most desired substances on or off the Reservation and allowed in most treatments, some jails, and prison indefinitely. Are the pharmaceutical substances Gabapentin, Suboxin, Subutex, and methadone, and now with the inclusion of Fentanyl, being hidden and used despite the procedures to search for contraband. Creating the increase in overdose fatalities, with the support to use as much as possible of opiate based drugs backed by the safety net of Naloxone, which only increases opportunity for individuals to become addicted by knowing this will save them in an emergency, and is freely provided to the public, and in one case that I am aware of, was even thrown into the yards of certain reservation members by Medical Emergency staff which I am sure had the best of intentions, although with all of this information, can be considered irresponsible, but I am positive was only to assist with an ongoing increasing fear of the result without it.

This is enough proof that even under the strict guidelines of the Federal and State government’s responsibility for the laws regarding the illegal use, trade and or sale of these “Controlled Substances” only creates issue for the police force of the United States regarding Federal and State policy, which later results with State and Tribal Courts equally affected despite the separation of responsibility by Public Law 280 through Child Protection and the Indian Child Welfare Act.?

In summary, I would advise that not only should the Reservation not consider this as an option, but for the leader’s of the Reservation council to focus their attention on a larger industry from which the Original people of our Nation have the advantage. That being within the insurance industry. While the Reservation can provide decreased premium cost to consumers due to the 501(c)3 tax exemption already in place. There is no way shape or form to be competed with by any insurance provider, which in turn, pretty much puts all current insurance providers in a position that the Reservation could have effect on in the future. During my year of civil commitment from October of 2021 until December of 2022 in which I was falsely diagnosed by the providers of Rule 20 assessments that Cass County Health and Human Services contracts with. I had taken the opportunity to inform the headquarter offices of Geico, Liberty Mutual, the Federal Department of Interior, A & D Program of Leech Lake, and Leech Lake Behavioural Health of this possibility, where the businesses of Geico and Liberty Mutual would be used to create a joint effort to gain access to Federal Funds budgeted for IHS use, by agreement to purchase a blanket policy to reservation members in all areas that are not health related regarding insurance such as auto, home and life insurance and as a result, would guarantee the support of this industries funds to create the possibility to generate private construction and other various businesses to cater to the reservations people's needs competitively instead of the losses due to the budget that the reservation allocates to such projects, and as result would provide the option to have support for those wanting to move from the area to have financial assistance to purchase a home off the Reservation.?

This plan requires that the Reservation council take the necessary steps to acquire the funding that is in place for Reservation members that is provided to Indian Health Service, to be reallocated directly to the Reservation, which would create a need for the development of a “Tribal S Corp” entity, that may require need for a foundation or 501(c)3 exempt entity, to handle certain business to avoid State and or Federal tax liability. With the current inflated budget the Federal Government has projected for the continuation of Indian Health Service by the standard for comfort to such industries. This step in itself, creates the necessary ability to address and have the most influence on the future of medicine and its effect on society within our local area, and hopefully as far reaching as the outer borders of the United States, by partnering with as many of the Reservations of the United States as possible. By the use of Federal and State policies and procedures there are little to no legal issues that could arise in the foreseeable future, due to legislative decisions that can not be made without support of the people, and would not be made in the amount of time that this plan could have effect.