Career
White Plume has pursued a life of farming but had difficulty succeeding with crops on the limited agricultural lands of the reservation, where physical conditions are harsh and challenging. He and his extended family, or tiospaye, tried alfalfa, barley and corn; they also tried to raise raised horse and bison, which are being raised by ranchers in growing herds on the Great Plains. All yielded little more than subsistence under the harsh conditions.
After considerable research, in 1998 the Oglala Sioux Tribe passed an ordinance to allow the cultivation of low-THC hemp on the reservation. The market for the crop was high around the world, and it is a sustainable product with a short growing season. During World War II, the US government encouraged hemp's cultivation for its qualities of "hardiness, utility and low cost."
In April 2000 White Plume and his family planted industrial hemp on their farm on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He is reportedly the only farmer to date to openly plant, cultivate, and produce cannabis-related crops within the borders of the United States since they were prohibited by federal anti-drug laws in 1968. While hemp products can be sold in the United States, its cultivation is prohibited, a law implemented by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Although related to cannabis, hemp does not have psychoactive properties and is in demand worldwide for a variety of uses, including processing as a cloth and as food.
In addition, White Plume thought that the tribe's sovereignty on its land would enable him to grow the crop. Federal DEA agents made a surprise raid on his field that August and destroyed his crops. In August 2002, he was served with eight civil charges by the US District Attorney related to the hemp cultivation, and a court order prohibiting continued growing of the crop. Although he has appealed, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the DEA, while acknowledging that its registration process could be a burden and that hemp might be a good crop for the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Read more about this topic: Alex White Plume
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