Raid on Northern California tribal marijuana farms underscores uncertainty over pot laws

Native American tribes’ efforts to cash in on California’s “green rush” by launching large-scale marijuana growing operations appear to have been premature and ill-advised if recent law enforcement raids on tribal lands are any indication.

Pot raids conducted on the Pinoleville Pomo Nation’s Rancheria north of Ukiah this week and on the Pit River and Alturas tribes’ properties in Modoc County in July serve as reminders that such endeavors remain mired in a morass of laws that continue to make cannabis cultivation a risky business.

“It’s a cautionary tale,” said Anthony Broadman, an attorney with Galanda Broadman, a Seattle-based, Native American-owned law firm that represents tribes.

“It’s too bad to see people going in without really understanding the rules,” said Dale Gieringer, of California NORML, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws.

On Tuesday, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office seized 382 pot plants from Pinoleville tribal land and more than 100 pounds of processed marijuana inside a leased building where marijuana was being converted into concentrated pot products. The federal law enforcement crackdown on cannabis cultivation operations on the Pit River and Alturas tribes’ properties in July yielded more than 12,000 plants and 100 pounds of processed marijuana, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Pinoleville tribal leaders say it’s the sheriff who doesn’t know the rules and they vowed to fight back.

“We believe the sheriff has overstepped his authority, violated tribal sovereignty and acted outside of his legal jurisdiction,” Angela James, tribal vice-chairwoman, said in a statement Thursday. “Our cannabis collective is a lawfully organized, nonprofit organization which is subject to tribal law.” She said the tribe plans to pursue “legal remedies” against the Sheriff’s Office.

The Pinoleville and Modoc County cases are indicators of how tribes may be confused by murky marijuana laws or convinced to take on dubious projects by unscrupulous outsiders seeking to take advantage of potentially more lenient regulations on tribal lands, which are exempt from local regulations but not criminal laws, Broadman said.

Pinoleville officials contend their marijuana operation falls under regulatory, not criminal codes.

Marijuana growing in California has been plagued by a confusing mix of sometimes-?conflicting rules since medical marijuana was legalized in 1996. The laws “remain muddy,” Broadman said.

Newly passed legislation aimed at licensing, regulating and taxing medical marijuana is expected to go into effect within a year, clarifying pot cultivation and sales rules in the state. There are multiple initiatives vying for the 2016 ballot that would ask voters to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

The Pinoleville and Modoc tribes appear to have jumped the gun, Gieringer said.

Further complicating any state rules is the fact marijuana cultivation remains illegal for any use under federal law. While the Obama administration has said that enforcing federal marijuana laws is not a priority as long as growers remain within reasonable parameters and state laws, that could change with the next election, Broadman said.

Law enforcement officers believe there are a few clear rules. One is that it currently is illegal to grow pot for profit in California. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten has noted that Pinoleville tribal leaders have said publicly and to officers that their pot operation was aimed at least partly at generating money to fund tribal projects. Van Patten said the size of the operation also was an indicator that the tribe and its financial backers in the operation were out to make a profit.

To launch a profit-making operation before it’s legal in the state is “absolutely” misguided, he said.

The 400-some plants grown this summer were just the beginning of the tribe’s plan. Pinoleville’s backers earlier this year said the operation - much like the Modoc enterprises - would be producing “thousands” of plants inside greenhouses covering 110,000 square feet. It’s unclear why the operation ended up being much smaller than initially envisioned, but the tribe repeatedly had been warned by the sheriff to grow smaller amounts. Neither tribal leaders nor the Kansas City-based investor financing the proposal - Barry Brautman - could be reached by phone this week to explain the change. Brautman and United Cannabis Corp., a marijuana research and development company supplying plants and overseeing growing operations, stopped working with the tribe about a month ago, said Mike Canales, who sits on the tribe’s business board and who has been instrumental in launching the pot project. Canales, who is not a member of the tribe, said the split had something to do with tribal regulations, but did not explain further.

Both the Mendocino and Modoc operations were initiated by investors from outside the state.

Financing for the marijuana operation overseen by the tiny Alturas tribe - estimated at five members - is believed to have come from Jerry Montour, CEO of a Canada-based cigarette company, according to the federal search warrant affidavit. Montour has a 1988 conviction in Canada for conspiracy to smuggle marijuana into the country from Mexico, according to a Sacramento Bee article. In 2013, he was sued by the New York attorney general as part of a crackdown on out-of-state Native American cigarette manufacturers and suppliers who allegedly were skirting their tax debts, according to the Albany Times Union.

Cases like this confirm the fears of many tribal attorneys that, lured by the promise of big profits, tribes are “being sold a bill of goods” by outsiders, Broadman said.

He’s concerned that tribes who overstep the boundaries of marijuana regulations now will have trouble finding backers for legitimate projects in the future.

“What kind of responsible outside investors are they going to attract?” Broadman asked.

He recommends that tribes interested in getting into marijuana production wait until regulations are in place, study the regulations thoroughly and follow them closely. The Suquamish tribe in Washington state, where regulatory procedures already are in place for cannabis cultivation, has entered into a compact with the state, protecting it from prosecution at least by that state, he said.

Such precautions make marijuana cultivation safer, but not fail-safe, Broadman said.

“The beginning and ending of the story is marijuana remains illegal (under federal law). And no lawyer can tell their client otherwise,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473?or glenda.anderson@?pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.