A northern Wisconsin tribe has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for the right to cultivate industrial hemp.
The Menominee Nation argued in the case it “should have the right under the Farm Bill to cultivate industrial hemp in the same manner as Kentucky, Colorado and other states.”
The tribe has been in negotiations with the DOJ and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency regarding the cultivation of industrial hemp. In October, the officials from the two institutions raided the Menominee Reservation and destroyed its industrial hemp crop.
Brendan Johnson, an attorney representing the Menominee Nation, argued the provisions of the Farm Bill apply to the Menominee tribe.
“This is a straightforward legal issue,” Johnson said in a statement. “We are confident that the provisions [in the Farm Bill] do apply to Menominee; that Menominee is authorized under federal law to cultivate industrial hemp.”
No trial date has been set.
