Warm Springs tribal members overwhelmingly OK pot grow, sales

Warm Springs tribal members voted overwhelmingly Thursday to pursue marijuana growing and sales at tribal-owned stores off the reservation, unofficial results showed.

Here’s a release issued Friday afternoon by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs:

Results of Thursday’s referendum were certified this (Friday) morning by the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon. Despite winter conditions, a total of 1,450 votes were cast exceeding the threshold for a valid referendum by 346 votes. Of those votes, 1,252 were in favor with 198 opposing.

The referendum authorized the production, sale, wholesale and retail sale of medical and recreational marijuana, and hemp by the Confederated Tribes. The approval of the resolution will allow the project to move forward but does not legalize the use or possession of marijuana on the reservation.

Tribal Council Chairman Austin Greene, Jr., stated, “The Tribal Council sought the opinion of Tribal Membership regarding the proposed project and Thursday’s results gives us direction on how to proceed. Overall, this effort empowered the younger generation of Warm Springs Tribal citizens who came out in record numbers.”

The cannabis business will be led by the Tribe’s business arm, the Warm Springs Economic Development Corporation also known as Ventures. Warm Springs Ventures has been working over the past year to investigate and develop a Tribally owned, operated, and regulated Tribal cannabis cultivation and extraction facility on the reservation with sales only allowed off the reservation in tribally owned retail stores in the state of Oregon where it is legal. It is estimated that the project will create immediate and significant net profits ($11-27 million per year) in the first five years while creating 85+ jobs on and off the reservation for Tribal members.

Ventures CEO Don Sampson said, “The purpose of the cannabis project is to create much needed jobs and revenues for our Tribal community. The Tribe intends to be a leader in the cannabis industry and serve as a model for other Tribes nationwide. We will develop a highly regulated, safe, profitable, and legally compliant business that will benefit our community and support much needed tribal services such as education, health care, housing, and more on the reservation.”

The Tribe is working closely with the State of Oregon and federal agencies such as the US Department of Justice and Bureau of Indian Affairs to ensure compliance with federal policy, consistency with state regulations, and protection of tribal health and safety.

For additional information on the Cannabis Economic Development Project, contact Don Sampson, Warm Springs Ventures at 541-553-3565.

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon, is based in Central Oregon with a membership of over 5,000 Tribal Members from the Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute tribes. The Warm Springs Economic Development Corporation, also known as Ventures, is the business arm of the Confederated Tribes. Their work includes venture capital, investments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, both on and off the reservation. In addition, the organization acts in an advisory capacity in all potential and existing enterprises affecting the Tribe.

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Here’s Kandra Kent’s Thursday report on the referendum.

By the 8 p.m. deadline, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs had enough votes Thursday night for a valid referendum regarding marijuana production and sales.

Thursday afternoon, even with snow and sleet, the line was out the door as Warm Springs tribal members waited to cast votes.

It was not a referendum to legalize the drug, but rather to cash in on Oregon’s newest industry. The tribes’ Warm Springs Ventures hopes to become one of the first reservations in the nation to commercially grow and process marijuana.

Despite the referendum’s approval, marijuana will remain illegal to possesses or consume on the reservation, but crops and marijuana products will be sent to tribal-owned businesses, to be sold in other Oregon cities, like Portland.

Tribal member Martha Winishut told NewsChannel 21 she doesn’t approve of marijuana, but she’s still voting yes.

“We’re dying,” Winishut said. “There’s no jobs here.”

That’s exactly what the proposal promises: more than 80 jobs for tribal members, and maybe more later.

Warm Springs Ventures CEO Donald Sampson said the operation would also bring in about $11 million the first year and up to $27 million the fifth year. Entry-level wages would range from $10 to $12 an hour and management positions could earn up to $85,000.

The proposal includes a five-acre site with a growing greenhouse sized up to 36,000 square feet.

Colorado-based company Sentinel Strainwise has been working with Warm Springs for the last eight months on the project.

“We’re helping them decide upon the size and scope and market analysis of how they can go about with this cannabis project in a responsible manner and bring the most economic development to the tribe,” said Sentinel CEO Chris Hardiman.

Hardiman’s company will help the tribes manage the project for the first few years.

It could be a game-changer for a struggling economy. Sampson said 60 percent of the workforce on the reservation is unemployed. The tribes’ entire budget is only about $16 million a year.

“I usually don’t vote myself,” said one tribal member waiting in the voting line, adding that he doesn’t have a job. “I’m a seasonal worker.”

He said he’s hopeful he could get a job at the plant.

A third of the reservation’s roughly 3,000 voting-eligible members had to turn out for a valid referendum.

In the past, the tribes have struggled to get members to vote.

“The motorsports project had three referendum votes, and they all failed because there wasn’t sufficient people showing up at the polls — and these were conducted during very good weather, during the summer season,” Sampson said. “So what we’re seeing here today is a desire by tribal members to get out and voice their opinion about this project.”

Nearly every tribal member NewsChannel 21 spoke with Thursday said they planned to vote yes.

“It’s going to put us back where we need to be — not the bottom of the totem pole anymore,” said member Jason Stacona.

Tribal leaders said the revenue also will help replenish slashed budgets and restore cut services.

“The tribe is dealing with very hard financial times, and this is a means to help address that,” Sampson said.

The tribal government does not collect taxes from members, but instead raises money from Warm Springs Ventures through businesses like the tribes’ Indian Head Casino.

“The business enterprises are really what provide all the source of revenue to the tribal government, and it provides services like health care, housing and education — and those are great needs here on the reservation,” Sampson said.

Like other Oregon marijuana productions, the facility would be regulated by the OLCC.

With marijuana still federally illegal, the tribes’ are confident they’ll get the same sort of look-the-other-way treatment from the U.S. that states get.

They say they’ve done legal homework and have support from key state leaders.

“We think this will be a model in terms of what tribes can do in the cannabis industry nationwide,” Sampson said. “We’re working with the governor’s office, the Department of Justice — we have a very well thought out plan.”

In the end, one four-letter word — jobs — seemed to be the key to passage.

“Jobs — we need jobs here,” Winishut said.