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Native American Tribes Consider Entering Marijuana Market

时间:2017-08-28 23:03:18

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(单词翻译)

 

Native American tribes want to begin growing and selling marijuana. They hope it will help end poverty on reservations, the large areas where many Native Americans live. However, there is uncertainty1 about the future of US marijuana policy.

Cannabis is the plant that produces marijuana. The growth and sale of marijuana in some states has become a big business. Arcview is a cannabis investor2 network in California. It says the U.S. marijuana market earned $6.7 billion in 2016.

Supporters of cannabis say it has many uses. The male cannabis plant can be used to make hemp3, which is used around the world in more than 25,000 products. These include food, fabric4 and medicine.

Multiple benefits

Leslie Bocskor is the founder5 of Electrum Partners, which helps states and Native American tribes enter the marijuana business.

He said hemp can be used to create plastics that are more environmentally friendly than those made from oil and gas, which are not biodegradable. Bocskor says when hemp is put into a landfill it will degrade and not cause damage to the environment. He said the creation of plastic products causes more pollution than the making of products from hemp.

Native American tribes have an advantage over other companies in the cannabis business. Many businesses in the United States lower their taxes by deducting7 their business expenses from their profits. But companies that grow and sell cannabis are not permitted to deduct6 their business expenses. This means they pay a higher tax rate than do other companies.

However, Native American tribes and the companies they own do not pay federal income taxes on money earned on reservations.

Bocskor says this means that a tribe-owned cannabis company could earn a profit margin8 of up to 85 percent.

Conflicting laws

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 bans the growth, sale and use of marijuana and other drugs. But the law has not stopped states from legalizing marijuana. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medical uses. Since then, other states have done so. Some states have also legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

In a document released in 2013, the United States Department of Justice said states could give their citizens the right to grow and sell marijuana. The department said people would not be arrested for doing so. There were some restrictions9. For example, states could not permit cannabis to be grown on public land. They could not permit the sale of marijuana to young people, or let it be sold in states where it was still illegal. The department wrote similar rules for tribal10 governments a few months later.

Vincent Sliwoski is a lawyer in Portland, Oregon. Some of his clients are cannabis companies. He teaches cannabis law. He says the Justice Department document means the federal government does not want to spend money enforcing marijuana laws. But he says the Trump11 administration could change that policy.

Twenty-nine states and Washington, DC have legalized some form of marijuana use. Several tribes have tried to enter the marijuana business, but most have been stopped by the federal government.

Some Native Americans are operating successful marijuana businesses, including the Squaxin Island Tribe in Washington State. Others have banned marijuana, like the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota.

Tribal operations raided

In July 2015, government agents raided two reservations in northern California. They said the tribes were producing a greater amount of marijuana than is permitted. The tribes denied the accusations12.

Three months later, federal agents took hemp plants from the Menominee Nation in the upper-Midwestern state of Wisconsin. The agents said people who were not Native Americans were operating the tribe’s cannabis business. The agents also said that the tribe was producing plants with higher levels of THC than permitted. THC is a part of the cannabis plant that gives marijuana its psychoactive effects.

The Menominee tribe said it had asked the government to test the plants and had said it would destroy any plants that had levels of THC higher than permitted.

After these raids, the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe in South Dakota burned its crop and closed its cannabis-growing operations. The tribe feared it would also be raided.

It is not clear why some federal agents have raided some tribal marijuana operations. Sliwoski said it is possible that some police agencies do not understand the 2013 Department of Justice document, or are targeting Native American tribes.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said he opposes the use of marijuana. An administration spokesman said the president sees a big difference between medicinal and recreational use of marijuana. He suggested that the administration may release a policy limiting the recreational use of marijuana.

Leslie Bocskor believes banning the medical and recreational use of marijuana would be very unpopular. He does not believe the federal government will take any action limiting the uses of the drug. And he notes that marijuana sales have brought a lot of money to some states. More than $500 million in taxes have been paid in Colorado by the marijuana industry since voters decided13 to legalize the drug in 2014.

I’m Phil Dierking.

And I'm Caty Weaver14.

Words in This Story

biodegradable - adj. capable of being slowly destroyed and broken down into very small parts by natural processes, bacteria, etc.

cannabis - n. a drug (such as marijuana or hashish) that comes from the hemp plant and is smoked illegally

deduct - v. to take away (something, especially an amount of money) from a total

fabric – n. woven or knitted materia

landfill - n. a system in which waste materials are buried under the ground

marijuana – n. the dried leaves and flowers of the hemp plant that are smoked as a drug

profit margin – n. the difference between the cost of buying or making something and the price at which it is sold

psychoactive - adj. affecting the mind.

reservation – n. an area of land in the U.S. that is kept separate as a place for Native Americans to live

recreational – adj. done for enjoyment


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 uncertainty NlFwK     
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物
参考例句:
  • Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
  • After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后,压力开始产生影响了。
2 investor aq4zNm     
n.投资者,投资人
参考例句:
  • My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
  • The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。
3 hemp 5rvzFn     
n.大麻;纤维
参考例句:
  • The early Chinese built suspension bridges of hemp rope.古代的中国人建造过麻绳悬索桥。
  • The blanket was woven from hemp and embroidered with wool.毯子是由亚麻编织,羊毛镶边的。
4 fabric 3hezG     
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织
参考例句:
  • The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
  • I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。
5 Founder wigxF     
n.创始者,缔造者
参考例句:
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
6 deduct pxfx7     
vt.扣除,减去
参考例句:
  • You can deduct the twenty - five cents out of my allowance.你可在我的零用钱里扣去二角五分钱。
  • On condition of your signing this contract,I will deduct a percentage.如果你在这份合同上签字,我就会给你减免一个百分比。
7 deducting a8b7c0fd0943a3e50d5131ea645ec08e     
v.扣除,减去( deduct的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Deducting drop size and velocity from circular blood stains. 如何从循环的血液中降低血滴的大小和速度。 来自电影对白
  • Ordinary shareholders receive dividend from profit after deducting the preference shares dividend. 普通股股东可获派剩馀的盈利为股息。 来自互联网
8 margin 67Mzp     
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘
参考例句:
  • We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
  • The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
9 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
参考例句:
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
10 tribal ifwzzw     
adj.部族的,种族的
参考例句:
  • He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
  • The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。
11 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
12 accusations 3e7158a2ffc2cb3d02e77822c38c959b     
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名
参考例句:
  • There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
  • He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。
13 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
14 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

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