South Dakota Reservation Bans Alcohol, Allows Cannabis

One reservation in South Dakota, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, permits legal cannabis, although alcohol is still prohibited within reservation boundaries.

In 2020, the Oglala Sioux tribe voted overwhelmingly to legalize recreational and medicinal cannabis. The site has banned alcohol for the past 100 years, and they don’t plan to change that any time soon. Cannabis was legalized in 2020, but part of the structure was delayed thanks to the pandemic. Now they have a thriving industry. However, when they legalized cannabis, they also had the option of making alcohol legal again on the reservation and decided against it.

People living on the South Dakota reservation claim that they see cannabis as a safe and natural alternative to alcohol and as a way to manage things like mental health issues and chronic illnesses. They still see alcohol as something that can affect not only health and safety but also life expectancy.

“Cannabis is a natural plant that comes from the earth — and our people lived off the land, and they got their medicine from the land,” Ann Marie Beane tells the Press Herald of a local dispensary called No Worries. “Our indigenous people suffer a lot from diabetes and cancer and various other diseases, but the cannabis is really helping them.”

Shoppers at the store also shared that they believe alcohol, meth, opioids and other illegal drugs are more dangerous than cannabis and that cannabis is different and better for their community.

Established in 1889, the Pine Ridge Reservation covers 2 million acres and several small towns. It also includes ranches, prairies, and badlands formations. About 20,000 people live on the reservation, and community members say some people may not be counted by the US Census Bureau and there are actually closer to 40,000 residents.

Throughout the history of the South Dakota reservation, alcohol has been illegal most of the time, but bootlegging is still common, and alcohol abuse is still a problem on the reservation.

“It’s killing our youth — it’s killing our future generation,” says Beane of the still pervasive problem of alcohol abuse.

The Oglala Sioux tribe filed a lawsuit in 2012 alleging that about 25% of children born on the reservation had health or behavior problems caused by alcohol in the womb. They sued beer shops across the border in Nebraska, claiming they were taking advantage of alcoholics living on the reservation.

Tribal peoples typically have lower life expectancies and higher rates of health problems, which medical experts say are a result of poverty and the damage the federal government has inflicted on their communities. Reservations often do not have good access to medical care and healthy food. They are usually cared for by a group called the Indian Health Service, which is underfunded and not always able to provide the best care.

Of the customers interviewed by the Press Herald at No Worries, few said they only use cannabis for recreational purposes. Most of them use it for things like anxiety and pain as well as other medical conditions. Reporters saw a patient with an ostomy bag who had lost some of her intentions, as well as patients suffering from drug addiction and cancer.

“I would rather smoke than do other drugs because I almost gave up my kids,” says Chantilly Little, a recovering addict.

“Unfortunately, the health services provided by the Indian Health Service have failed in myriad ways,” says Stephanie Bolman, a breast cancer patient who used to work in the health sector. She also serves on the City Council of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. “Many are left to their own devices and endure so much pain and suffering that medical marijuana has proved life-saving.”

While the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and many Indigenous peoples of South Dakota still struggle with lack of access to health and social services and justice, for them legal access to cannabis is a positive first step and a clear alternative to alcohol.