Why then have so many Tribal marijuana experiments been met with DOJ resistance? Is the DOJ treating Tribes more harshly than it treats the states? Or is it that so many Tribes have failed to comply with the tenets of the federal tribal marijuana memo?  It’s some of both.

The DOJ tribal memo provides as follows:

Indian Country includes numerous reservations and tribal lands with diverse sovereign governments, many of which traverse state borders and federal districts. Given this, the United States Attorneys recognize that effective federal law enforcement in Indian Country, including marijuana enforcement, requires consultation with our tribal partners in the districts and flexibility to confront the particular, yet sometimes divergent, public safety issues that can exist on any single reservation . . . Consistent with the Attorney General’s 2010 Indian Country Initiative, in evaluating marijuana enforcement activities in Indian Country, each United States Attorney should consult with the affected tribes on a

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