SEARCHLIGHT NEW MEXICO
Three months in the past, New Mexico issued a $1 million high-quality to embattled Navajo marijuana grower Dineh Benally and — citing him for “egregious” violations — ordered him to close down his hashish farm in Torrance County. Benally did one thing however.
As a substitute of closing the store, he expanded his operation alongside a rural street close to Estancia. In a March 21 telephone interview, Benally alluded to a sovereign proper to develop hashish, which he says is a non secular sacrament for Native folks.
“That is an ancestral plant,” Benally mentioned. “This plant belongs to us as native folks. We as Native Individuals, once we have been born, now we have the proper to this land… Something that grows, that belongs to the Native Individuals.”
This isn't the primary time Benally's marijuana companies have sparked controversy and authorized hassle, from legal fees and a civil lawsuit to neighborhood outrage. In 2020, he helped orchestrate an enormous unlawful marijuana operation on the Navajo Nation that employed greater than 1,000 Chinese language immigrant staff — till it was shut down by a raid that netted almost $2 billion in vegetation. Within the wake of the Shiprock bust, legal fees have been filed in opposition to Benally and federal authorities mentioned they launched a human trafficking investigation.
In 2022, Benally acquired a state license to develop hashish in acreage south of Estancia, the place there have been different issues. The Hashish Management Division of the New Mexico Division of Licensing and Regulation revoked his allow on December 23 and issued him one of many largest fines in its historical past, charging that his farm was working in ” flagrant disregard for public well being and security, and for the rule of legislation.”
Inspectors discovered uncontrolled pest infestations, an nearly whole lack of qc and not one of the methods wanted to stop vegetation from being offered on the black market. Particularly, they mentioned he grew about 20,000 mature marijuana vegetation — 4 instances the amount allowed on his license.
Within the interview with Searchlight New Mexico, Benally dropped the violations. “Now we have our rights, now we have our faith, now we have our sacraments,” he mentioned. He protested being handled “as if I violated folks's rights and violated a legislation – a legislation that’s man-made, a legislation that’s corrupt and a legislation that’s discriminatory.”
Benally mentioned he’s endeavor the Estancia enterprise in partnership with the Oklevueha Native American Church (ONAC), led by James “Flaming Eagle” Mooney, a controversial determine whose claims to be a Native American have lengthy been questioned. In line with court docket paperwork, Mooney is just not a registered member of a federally acknowledged tribe.
But Mooney continued in his claims — each for himself and for Benally, whom Mooney named the top of ONAC for the Navajo.
“Is it [Benally] doesn't must be registered with the state,” Mooney advised Searchlight. “Does New Mexico suppose they wish to register and manage and oversee the event of our sacrament? That gained't occur. We don’t require state registration. We’re a sovereign nation.”
Mooney mentioned the Benally farm provides ONAC members everywhere in the nation and “everywhere in the fricking world”.
When requested how a lot hashish was being exported, Mooney replied: “As a lot as we will develop.”
Transporting marijuana throughout state strains is a federal crime.
Right this moment, Benally's operation in Torrance County is greater than ever. Semi-trucks roll out and in of the Freeway 41 entrance as staff erect new greenhouses — a minimum of 25 of which have been constructed previously few months, a evaluate of drone footage exhibits. In whole, about 180 giant greenhouses sit in plain view close to the county street, the skunky scent of marijuana wafting over the adjoining farmland. Neighbors sharing a close-by home needed to cease utilizing their cooling system to stop the scent from invading.
“They simply hold constructing and constructing extra greenhouses, mentioned David Crosby, whose property is positioned subsequent to Benally's farm. At this charge, Crosby mentioned, “They may provide the whole nation with pot. There ought to be no technique to regulate or management this mess.
State regulators rejected Benally's claims of sovereignty and non secular rights.
“The Hashish Management Division doesn’t agree with Mr. Benally's evaluation of the scenario,” mentioned basic counsel Robert Sachs in an e-mail. “There are specific substances which are permitted to be used in bona fide non secular ceremonies” because of the court docket's rulings. However “hashish is just not one in every of them,” he mentioned. “The CCD stands by its choice to revoke the license of this enterprise and can proceed to work with legislation enforcement to cease this unlawful unlicensed exercise.”
For 3 months, nevertheless, there was no legislation enforcement motion to shut the property. Such motion requires a referral to the New Mexico Division of Public Security, Sachs mentioned. No referral was made as of March 19, following inquiries from Searchlight.
The case comes amid a bigger nationwide battle with marijuana farming, the place legal enterprises have exploited state hashish legal guidelines to develop weed for the profitable black market. Since 2020, when a Searchlight investigation uncovered Chinese language operators and alleged human trafficking at Shiprock, criminal activity on U.S. marijuana farms has elevated from Maine and Oklahoma to California, stories say. legislators. Chinese language organized crime dominates the illicit marijuana market in America, typically utilizing Chinese language immigrants as pressured labor, a ProPublica investigation has discovered.
Learn extra at
https://searchlightnm.org/fined-and-stripped-of-his-marijuana-license-dineh-benally-keeps-on-growing/
