By John Christian Hopkins / Lake Powell Life
Published on July 2, 2017

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Lee Jack, Sr. has sponsored legislation aimed at making medical marijuana legal on the reservation.

There is a humanitarian need for it, according to one backer of the bill.

Former Vice Presidential candidate Dineh Benally told the council’s Health, Education and Human Services Committee how medical marijuana could have eased his mother’s final months.

Benally said his mom, who had pancreatic cancer, really suffered over the final four months of her life.

“She didn’t have the medication to have a better part of life,” Benally said.

That’s why he has been pushing to legal medical marijuana, he told the committee.

Jack’s legislation would allow businesses to cultivate or produce cannabis – or hemp – for economic, industrial or scientific purposes.

But, to make marijuana legal the tribe would have to amend Title 17, section 391, of the Navajo Nation Code.

Currently the tribe has a “zero tolerance” policy toward marijuana and anyone caught in possession could face up to one year in jail or a $5,000 fine.

Jack said his bill could spur economic development on the reservation.

Benally is hoping the tribe will enter into business with Ultra Health, a New Mexico company that projects having 60,000 patients by the end of the year.

Ultra Health already boasts nearly 43,000 patients, many suffering from chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, epilepsy, neuropathy, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other disorders.

“What we are doing is educating people that this is not just a joint you can smoke, it’s real medicine,” Ultra Health Vice President Leonard Salgado said.

Navajo Legislative Counsel Rhonda Tuni noted that even if the council approved the measure, it would still take some time before a business could offer medical marijuana.

There would still need to be regulations in place, she said.

Jack’s bill passed the Health, Education and Human Services Committee by a 3-2 margin. It will move on to the Resource and Development Committee.