Expanding opportunity at Acoma Pueblo

In Western New Mexico, a new project has been launched — one that should have Native tribes watching with interest. Acoma Pueblo is the first tribe in the state to venture into the medicinal marijuana field. Partnering with Bright Green Group of Companies, the pueblo is slated to be the site of a $160 million, state-of-the-art greenhouse for researching and growing plants for medicinal purposes.

But marijuana is just one plant that will be harvested — expect to see a variety of medicinal plants, everything from marijuana to pennywort and Indian ginseng, according to The Associated Press. Those of us from Northern New Mexico hope the conditions are ripe for growing osha, that favorite plant for knocking back colds and respiratory problems. Goodness knows its fans could use a more plentiful and less expensive source.

This could become the nation’s largest commercial growing operation, with economic opportunities both for the tribe and for the state, depending on what businesses grow up alongside the greenhouse. Of course, growing, selling and using medicinal marijuana is strictly controlled in New Mexico. Only licensed nonprofit producers can cultivate the crop, with those slots coveted. In 2015, some 80 applicants filed paperwork to grow the plant, but only 12 licenses were approved.

However, Bright Green Group of Companies officials believe that because they are on tribal property, they are subject only to tribal and federal laws. Whatever is grown — whether marijuana or echinacea or other plants — the company has promised, in its 25-year-agreement with Acoma Pueblo, to adhere to federal regulations.

With a potential federal crackdown on recreational marijuana — despite its legal status in states such as Colorado and Washington — the timing seems challenging for expanding pot production, even of the medicinal variety. Analysts are unsure what federal action might do to the medicinal marijuana industry. Current federal law apparently forbids the shipping of medicinal marijuana outside of New Mexico. The greenhouse market, then, is limited.

That very uncertainty is what makes this project so promising. It is not a greenhouse built for today, but for the future, for a time when laws allow more expansive shipping of medicinal marijuana and for the oils and other products that result to be available for sale across the country. With this greenhouse potentially able to produce four times the annual volume of medical marijuana now being used in the state, it’s obvious that the targeted market will be broader than just New Mexico.

Acoma leaders, as well as the company, are thinking ahead. Eventually, the laws will catch up with what people need and want — science backs up the benefits of medicinal marijuana for pain and other conditions.

Construction is expected to take two years — and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs needs to sign off on the lease, all of which give the tribe and company time to establish the site and plan for the future. In the long run, credit Acoma Pueblo with developing a source of income for its people that is not dependent on gambling. Such partnerships hold great promise, not just for Acoma Pueblo, but for other tribes eager to bring economic development home to the reservations.