Navajo Nation Files Lawsuit To Stop Hemp Operation On Reservation
Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit today in the District Court of the Navajo Nation, Judicial District of Shiprock, New Mexico, against Dineh Benally, Native American Agriculture Company and Navajo Gold Company. The Navajo Nation alleged that these defendants were illegally growing, producing, manufacturing, transporting, licensing, and selling industrial hemp within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation also alleged that these defendants were unlawfully issuing Navajo land use permits to foreign entities to grow and cultivate industrial hemp on the Navajo Nation.
As a part of the lawsuit, the Navajo Nation filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a request for a preliminary injunction in order to ensure that these defendants are prevented from continuing their unlawful operations at the expense of both the Navajo people and government.
“The Nation has received numerous complaints, tips and warnings about these illegal activities happening on Navajo lands,” said Attorney General Doreen N. McPaul. “It is unfortunate that in the middle of a global pandemic that has claimed too many of our relatives that the Nation is forced to take this action against one of our own, who seeks to enrich himself in blatant disregard for the laws of the Nation.”
In 2018, the Navajo Nation Council amended the Navajo Nation Code to broaden the definition of marijuana and made clear that industrial hemp was not permitted on the Navajo Nation until the Navajo Nation created a regulatory system and obtained permits for it. Since then, the Council has authorized a hemp pilot research project between the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) and New Mexico State University (NMSU) to study the best hemp producing plants for cultivation in the Navajo Nation, and recently extended this project for a year and expanded the area by five acres for the 2020 crop season. However, that narrowly-tailored pilot program is exclusive to NAPI and NMSU in compliance with federal law. It does not permit defendants’ activities nor does it otherwise legalize hemp production on the Nation’s lands generally.
The Navajo Nation Council and the Office of the President and Vice President have reiterated that growing, cultivating, and marketing industrial hemp is illegal in the Navajo Nation.