House panel approves medical cannabis negotiations between state, tribal nations

Minnesota has had a medical cannabis program since 2014.

And now the Red Lake Nation and the White Earth Nation have also started medical cannabis programs.

But could an enrolled tribal member, while off a reservation, be at risk of being arrested by law enforcement for illegal cannabis possession, despite having a tribal prescription for it?

That’s a real possibility, says Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL-Golden Valley), so Minnesota and tribal nations need to make compacts with each other that spell out these sorts of legal jurisdictional issues now rather than later.

Freiberg sponsors HF3162, which would authorize the governor or designated representatives to negotiate compacts with an American Indian tribe regulating medical cannabis and medical cannabis products.

The House Health Finance and Policy Committee approved the bill, as amended, 14-5 Tuesday and sent it to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. There is no Senate companion.

To eliminate the risk of off-reservation possession arrests, the bill would specify that the possession, purchase, and receipt of properly packaged, labeled medical cannabis or medical cannabis products are not a civil or criminal offense when performed by a licensed medical cannabis retailer operated by an Indian tribe or an employee.

To that end, the bill would require that patients enrolled in a tribal medical cannabis program also be concurrently enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis registry program managed by the Department of Health.

Such a joint registration system would also allow enrolled tribal members to fill a cannabis prescription at an off-reservation certified medical cannabis dispensary, said Leonard Fineday, head attorney of the White Earth Nation.

The reciprocal would also be allowed, permitting a non-tribal member to fill a legally issued cannabis prescription at a White Earth Nation or Red Lake Nation dispensary.

Fineday assured members of the committee that the bill would not open the door for non-tribal individuals to purchase recreational cannabis if tribes later opted to legalize that, which they are not planning to do.

Other provisions in the bill would:

• allow a manufacturer registered with a tribal medical cannabis program to transport medical cannabis to testing laboratories in the state and to other Indian lands;
• require manufacturers registered with a tribal medical cannabis program to contract with a laboratory to test its medical cannabis for content, contamination, and consistency; and
• require manufacturers registered with a tribal medical cannabis board to comply with requirements for manufacturers registered by the Department of Health.