Two Native American tribes — the Menominee and Ho-Chunk — are working to legalise marijuana in Wisconsin.

Gabe Galanda, an attorney in Seattle, told the Guardian that the tribes would need to “make some kind of deal with the devil" as they draft a resolution supporting legal weed in the Badger State. 

“Tribal sovereignty means that state and local government have no say in the regulation of on-reservation affairs. Tribes that seek local and, in turn, federal support must either in letter or in spirit cede sovereignty to state and local government,” he said.

MADISON (WKOW) -- The Ho-Chunk Nation has voted to change the rules on using marijuana on its tribal lands. 

Ho-Chunk announced Saturday that its General Council voted to reverse a policy that made the use and sale of marijuana on tribal lands illegal. 63 percent of members voted in favor, 34 percent voted against and three percent abstained from the vote.

This comes about a month after the Menominee Indian Tribe voted to legalize medicinal and recreational use of marijuana on its reservation.

Officials tell 27 News that this ruling does not make the use and sale of marijuana legal yet on their tribal lands, and that officials and attorneys will be researching the implications of changing the ban.

Marshfield police seized more than $88,000 worth of marijuana being transported from Colorado in this 2013 file photo. State law still says that anyone caught with marijuana can be charged with a crime that could include significant fines, jail time and a permanent criminal record.(Photo: Gannett Central Wisconsin Media file photo)Buy Photo

Marijuana use comes with many potential side effects: reduced coordination, impaired driving, impairment to short-term memory, depression and other mental health issues, mood swings and the list goes on.

But, says Sheila Weix, a certified addiction nurse who has worked with those with substance abuse disorders for four decades, those are the same side effects experienced by those who abuse alcohol.

STEVENS POINT — When Ben Kollock first felt a swollen lymph node in his neck in the winter of 2014, he thought he had a routine cold that would pass after a few days of suffering through a runny nose and stuffy head.

But after a visit to the doctor to check it out, Kollock in February learned it was a symptom of something much worse: the then-26-year-old had leukemia, a cancer that attacks the body’s bone marrow and lymphatic system. Doctors detected the disease early, before it had a chance to spread across his body.

Not only did the early detection likely save his life, but it also set him on a course of local activism that resulted in a change of city policy regarding marijuana possession.

STEVENS POINT – Cities across Wisconsin have been slowly decriminalizing marijuana over the past several years by adopting local ordinances that levy only fines against those caught with small amounts of pot.

State law says anyone caught with even a little marijuana can be charged with a misdemeanor crime punishable by jail time and a permanent criminal record. But municipalities, for a variety of reasons, have been adopting local rules that allow first-time offenders to be charged with ordinance violations similar to traffic citations that carry only fines as penalties and don’t show up in Internet crime records.

Later this week, Wisconsin will serve as host to the Milwaukee Cannabis Freedom Festival. The festival is meant to celebrate recent marijuana legalization throughout the United States and to serve as a launch pad for this summer’s petition to legalize marijuana possession in Milwaukee. 

Back in 1963, when young Israeli researcher Raphael Mechoulam isolated and identified Cannabidiol (CBD) he probably never would have, in his wildest imagination, been able to imagine the controversy this benign little cannabinoid would create.

When he isolated CBD, Mechoulam was seeking to identify the “active” ingredient in cannabis, so he kept looking. Then, in 1964, shortly after the discovery of CBD, ∆-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was discovered, isolated and labeled “the active ingredient.”

Iraq combat veteran Chris Whittenburg credits cannabis with saving his marriage and ending the PTSD-spawned anger and anxiety that were destroying his life.

Menominee Tribe members have voted to approve both the recreational and medicinal usage of marijuana on tribal grounds, according to a tribal spokesperson.

The tribe said the referendum results are advisory, meaning tribal leadership isn’t bound by them.

The possibility of marijuana sales comes on the heels of the tribe’s unsuccessful effort to open a casino in Kenosha.

“This is new ground”, Gary Besaw, Menominee chairman, said in an interview Friday shortly after the results were announced. It’s just an advisory process. He says they can look at maximizing the benefits, and minimizing the potential consequences.

The Menominee Tribe overwhelmingly approved two advisory referendum questions authorizing its legislature to legalize marijuana on its reservation, the tribe said Friday.

Tribal members voted 677 to 499 to legalize marijuana use for recreational purposes. Members approved marijuana for medicinal purposes 899 to 275. The voting was conducted Wednesday and Thursday and the results announced Friday morning.

The matter now moves to the tribe's legislature, which will study the issue and likely approve ordinances legalizing marijuana.