Native American tribe's cannabis consultant to face trial
Source: Associated Press
James Nord, Associated Press
Updated 3:23 pm, Wednesday, May 17, 2017
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Roughly two years after an American Indian tribe began an ambitious push to open the nation's first marijuana resort in South Dakota, a consultant who helped pursue the stalled venture is heading to trial on drug charges.
Jury selection starts Thursday in the case of Eric Hagen, a consultant who worked with the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe on its operation about 45 miles north of Sioux Falls. Hagen was indicted on state marijuana charges months after the tribe destroyed their crop amid fears of a federal raid.
. . .
Hagen and fellow consultant Jonathan Hunt, officials with Monarch America, a Colorado-based company in the marijuana industry, were charged last year after assisting the tribe.
The Santee Sioux began a marijuana growing operation after the Justice Department outlined a new policy clearing the way for Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana under the same conditions as some states that have legalized pot.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Native-American-tribe-s-cannabis-consultant-to-11153669.php