Unable to build casinos, several of Connecticut’s Native American tribes could instead turn to cannabis.
Connecticut recognizes five Native American tribes and, by law, manages tribal funds. But without federal recognition, three of those tribes have been unable to build a casino or use their land to create jobs for tribal members, they say.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said the state has essentially taken responsibility for the three state tribes without federal recognition, and prevented them from taking care of themselves.
“Everybody thought that everybody was going to do a casino, but a casino is not the only way to make money,” she said. “We really need to have something that allows some revenue generating to happen for the state-recognized tribes.”
When the state law creating Connecticut’s recreational cannabis market was passed, it included a provision to allow the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, both recognized by state and federal authorities, to grow cannabis if they so chose.
Excluded were the Schaghticoke, Paucatuck Eastern Pequot and Golden Hill Paugussett tribes, all of which are recognized by the state but not the federal government.
“I think that they thought the state-recognized tribes weren’t yet there, and the bill itself was very hard to pass,” Osten said.
Now the state legislature is considering a bill to consider lands owned by those three tribes “disproportionately impacted areas,” called DIAs, which would allow them to cultivate cannabis. A separate proposal would allow tribal members to grow cannabis on land they do not own.
Connecticut’s cannabis market has suffered from a shortage of cannabis in recent months, and Osten said the proposal would both alleviate that pressure, and simultaneously allow the tribes a revenue source.
“That’s exactly how I saw it,” she said.
Osten also said that, in part, it’s about “historical use of their lands.”
“These are Northeastern woodland tribes. They did a lot of work with the land,” she said.
The Schaghticokes, in particular, have attempted for decades to obtain federal recognition. In 2005, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs informed the tribe by fax that a short-lived recognition would be revoked. It was Columbus Day.
More recently, in 2019, there were concerns that a faction of the Schaghticoke tribe would build a casino in Kent if it was federally recognized.
Schaghticoke Chief Richard Velky said the goal is for all Native American tribes in Connecticut to be self-sufficient.
“It would be very exciting for the tribe. It would be a source of jobs for us,” he said. “When the state approved the two tribes, the state should have approved all five state recognized tribes at that time, because it has nothing to do with federal recognition. They should have given all of us the opportunity to be able to do that.”
The Schaghticoke tribe lays claim to 400 acres near Kent, but Velky said there is no intention to build a cannabis facility there. “We like being good neighbors,” he said.
Velky said there are five municipalities with whom the tribe is currently in discussion about a possible facility, but he declined to go into detail.
The Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe owns what is thought to be the smallest Native American Reservation in the United States, .25 acres in Trumbull. But Osten said that property could not be used for a cannabis facility, even a small one.
“That area would not be allowed because it’s a residential area,” she said.
H/T: https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/
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