Acoma Pueblo in NM signs contract with Bright Green to grow 40 mil marijuana plants a yr

[womanofthehills]

So, if NM has 2 million people, that's a lot of pot for us to smoke. We also have 35 other marijuana growers plus med mj patients can grow 16 plants. We will soon be awash in marijuana.


http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/acoma-pueblo-bright-green-group-companies-sign-25-year-business-agreement/

ACOMA PUEBLO, NEW MEXICO – Acoma Pueblo Governor Kurt Riley and the Tribal Council of the Acoma Pueblo have entered into a 25-year business agreement and land lease with the Bright Green Group of Companies, Inc. This landmark agreement enables Bright Green to begin constructing on tribal land a state-of-the-art greenhouse facility and research center for medicinal plants.

The Bright Green facility on the Acoma Indian Reservation will grow up to 40 million plants per year, which will result in production volume exceeding 1 BILLION GRAMS/marketable units annually.

[msongs]

1. our new attorney general will try to stop all this sort of thing. soon eliminating jobs nt

[Retrograde]

4. But aren't Native lands subject to their own laws

and regulations? That was the premise that allowed tribes to run casinos and other forms of gambling. So the residents should be able to grow as much as they want to.

Factoid: Acoma Pueblo may be the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the US! I've seen estimates that it was established anywhere from ~1000 to ~1300 CE. They've definitely been around a long time.

[womanofthehills]

5. I've been reading more on this - looks like Chinese investors

also talks of making oil to sell. I bet it's going to big pharma. There is a current law in NM that limits dispensary grows to 450 plants at a site - I guess that does not extend to American Indian pueblos. The last 2 yrs there has been one of these sites less than a mile from my house.

Acoma and the Grants-based Bright Green Group of Companies said in a press release Thursday they have partnered to create a $160 million greenhouse and research facility for medicinal plants on 150 acres of Acoma Pueblo land. While the announcement mentions that the project is bankrolled with foreign investment through a special immigration program, less obvious is the fact that the project has paved the way for 125 wealthy foreign investors, mostly from China, to come to the United States.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services program known as the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program allows foreign investors to get a green card if they invest at least $500,000 in a U.S. business through a federally-certified regional development center. The money must lead to the employment, either directly or indirectly, of 10 people over two years in an economically depressed area.

John Stockwell, Bright Green’s CEO, said 125 EB-5 investors, primarily from China, funded the project by purchasing shares of his company for $800,000 per investor.

He said the research portion of the project will focus on using a gene-splicing method to enhance the medicinal purposes of the plants. The company’s core product will be “pharmaceutical-grade” oil extracted from the altered plants. Bright Green’s website says the company is also developing a line of “health and enjoyment” drinks distributed through remotely controlled kiosks.

https://www.abqjournal.com/861776/acoma-company-announce-massive-operation.html

[Warpy]

2. Good for them

The state's MM law is so incredibly restrictive that we won't be the ones toking up, they'll probably sell to other states.

Our lege is still lousy with morality police, I'm afraid.

At least they got the state health department to stop dragging their feet on issuing permits to the dying.

[womanofthehills]

7. I think you are right - they say "pharma grade"

Suzanna really needs the money so I think the program is growning big time.

from the Santa Fe reporter:

New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program is growing at an even more rapid pace than reported by the public health agency tasked with regulating the industry.

Financial reports from growers that were made public for the first time this spring show total receipts during the first three months of 2016 topped $10.2 million—more than a quarter-million dollars above the $9.9 million claimed by the New Mexico Health Department on May 26. That figure does not include revenue from the 12 new producers who are still in various stages of setting up their grow sites and dispensaries.

Patient registrations, which reportedly have been taking up to 90 days to process, are also on the rise. The number of people legally permitted to use cannabis for medical relief in the state has almost doubled since February 2015, from 13,000 to more than 25,000 today.
- See more at: http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-12152-health-department-under-reports-medical-cannabis-sales.html#sthash.KXGU4HAh.dpuf

[politicat]

16. This is a good thing -- it sounds like CBD oil production

CBD is the thing that seems to be most effective for controlling seizures and severe ASD. (Given the current Tylenol-fever-cannabinoid receptors theory of ASD*, it makes sense that CBD oil would be a functional treatment.)

CBD production is one of those things that should be done at a large-scale level, not at the level of individual grows and processors. It's really easy to do badly (and explode shit), takes money and precision to do well, and is more economical for large-scale production.

Good for the Pueblo -- this is exactly what they should be using sovreignity to do. (I keep hoping one or more will also decide to build full service, full scale reproductive health clinics in places near where states are trying to limit it, but given the problems with Indian Health doing forced sterilization in the past, I'm not seeing that happening.)

*which I think is compelling, and requires further study, but I'm not entirely willing to buy into it right now.

[MineralMan]

3. The USA will become the dope supplier to the world.

Talk about increasing exports!

Whatchoo Need?
We got 'em. Loose Joints! Bags! Ounces! Step Right Up!
Best New Mexico Sinsemilla! No Junk! No Waste!
Mellow Highs or Headbusting Blowouts!
Step Up! No Cash? We Take All Major Plastic!
Pure-D Southwestern US Gold! Get It Here!

[womanofthehills]

8. But China is the main investor

I bet that 150 acre pot greenhouse is all going to pharma.

[Cracklin Charlie]

6. I have been there.

It is beautiful.

Maybe they will let me move there.

[womanofthehills]

9. NM is so beautiful and it's blue

Lots of creative people too.

[Cracklin Charlie]

11. Sounds like they might be mixing in a little green.

Maybe lots...in various shades.

Good for them!

[Old Terp]

10. I knew Acoma Pueblo had beautiful pottery.

I guess it follows that they would grow beautiful pot. Now a really thoughtful gift for those who still smoke would be one of those pots or bowls filled with pot.

[Cracklin Charlie]

12. I have three.

Let's go get em filled up!

I can't take much more of this "news".

Land of Enchantment!

[Warren DeMontague]

13. apparently 'real' progressives support the drug war and think drug users belong in prison.

I learned it on DU!

[womanofthehills]

14. Give me a break - I have my marijuana card

Big companies are trying to override the local dispensaries. It's good that Acoma will be making some money but why can't they just grow their own instead of having foreign investors overtake the market. NM dispensary growers can only grow 450 plants every three months - but Chinese investors can grow 40 million because it's on American Indian land. It's saying "fuck you" to the 35 NM dispensary growers.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. I can't speak to the situation in NM, but I can tell you how legalization has played out in the PNW

Oregon's recreational implementation has been widely praised by all stakeholders, including growers and small-scale producers, as far as I understand it.

I would recommend that you guys get on the ground in terms of crafting a similar initiative, since by many accounts NM may be one of the next states to go full recreational.

I was just making a point about some gibberish I was reading in a different thread, sorry.