56.01.020 Findings and Purpose

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa ("Tribe") hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The United States recognizes the Indian tribes as sovereigns retaining jurisdiction over their members and territories.

(b) The Preamble and Article IX, Section 3 of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe Constitution authorizes the governing body of the Tribe to engage in business activities which promote the economic well-being of the Tribe and its members.

(c) On August 29, 2013, U.S. Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole issued a memorandum to all United States Attorneys providing updated guidance to federal prosecutors concerning Marijuana enforcement under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The guidance memorandum applies to all of the Department of Justice's federal enforcement activity, including civil enforcement and criminal investigations and prosecutions, concerning Marijuana in all states. The guidance memorandum reiterates Congress's determination that Marijuana is a dangerous drug and that the illegal distribution and sale of Marijuana is a serious crime that provides a significant source of revenue to large-scale criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels. The guidance memorandum notes that the Department of Justice is committed to enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act consistent with those determinations. It also notes, in representing that Congress has not pre-empted the field of legalizing or regulating Marijuana, that the Department of Justice is committed to using its investigative and prosecutorial resources to address the most significant threats in the most effective, consistent, and rational way. In furtherance of those objectives, the guidance memorandum provides guidance to the Department of Justice attorneys and law enforcement to focus their enforcement resources on persons or organizations whose conduct interferes with any one or more of the following important priorities:(a) preventing the distribution of Marijuana to minors; (b) preventing revenue from the sale of Marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels; (c) preventing the diversion of Marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states; (d) preventing state-authorized Marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity; (e) preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of Marijuana; (f) preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with Marijuana use; (g) preventing the growing of Marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by Marijuana production on public lands; and (h) preventing Marijuana possession or use on federal property.

(d) On October 28, 2014 the United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director Monty Wilkinson issued a memorandum to all United States Attorneys entitled "Policy Statement Regarding Marijuana Issues in Indian Country." This memorandum states that the eight priorities in the August 29, 2013 guidance memorandum will also guide United States Attorneys' Marijuana enforcement efforts in Indian Country, including in the event that sovereign Indian Nations seek to legalize the cultivation or use of Marijuana in Indian Country. This memorandum states each United States Attorney should consult with the affected tribes on a government-to- government basis when evaluating Marijuana enforcement activities in Indian Country.

(e) On November 8, 2016, the citizens of the State of North Dakota, which neighbors the Tribe on all sides, passed an Initiative measure which shall become effective on December 8, 2016, legalizing Marijuana for medical and health related purposes in the State. Due to the complex patterns of jurisdiction imposed on the Tribe by the United States and the State of North Dakota, the use of Marijuana under federal and State laws will be nearly impossible to control or regulate by the Tribe.

(f) Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa has decided to make the medical use of Marijuana legal and lawful within its jurisdiction as an internal tribal matter for purposes of use, possession, consumption, cultivation, processing, distribution and research by enacting this title to the TMBCI Code.