You know what our most impoverished, crime-ridden, ill-educated communities in the country need? More drugs.
On Tuesday, the Seneca Nation in Western New York voted to consider growing and selling medical marijuana on its territory. Other Indians tribes are going to follow suit. Thanks to a new ruling by the Justice Department, tribes can now distribute marijuana, irrespective of the policy of the state in which they’re located.
Perhaps this sounds familiar. It’s how we got Indian casinos. The 1998 Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA) cemented the notion that Indian lands were sovereign and answerable only to the federal government, not the state governments, with regard to gambling.
Before that there were the cigarettes. Until 2010, Indians could sell them tax-free, even if the state they were located in taxed them.
Smokes, gambling, drugs. What destructive industry could we give Native Americans next? Prostitution?
Proponents present marijuana as an opportunity, but it’s another money grab that doesn’t address any of the underlying economic issues faced by reservations.
Since Indian lands are held in trust by the federal government, it is extremely hard to get a mortgage (the bank could never foreclose), and people cannot use their land or their homes as collateral to start businesses. Almost all the jobs, as a result, are financed by the tribal government or the federal one.
“Smokes, gambling, drugs. What destructive industry could we give Native Americans next? Prostitution?”
Take casinos. The Seneca nation has made well over $1 billion in profits off its gambling facilities. And during the past decade, that largesse has begun to trickle in ever-larger amounts into the hands of the Seneca people. The current annuity for an adult between the ages of 18 and 60 on the reservation is about $8,000, disbursed in quarterly payments. Half the money for children under 18 is given to their parents, and the other half is put into a trust. When a member of the Seneca nation turns 18 and can show he has graduated from high school or earned a GED, he receives a lump sum of $30,000. If he doesn’t get a high-school degree, he has to wait until 21 to receive the money. With each passing year the annuities get larger because the tribe invests its earnings.
Sounds great. Except I’m told by government officials and other members of the nation that young adults often spend this money to buy a new truck.
These are kids who have never had very much before; someone hands them a huge check and they clearly don’t know what to do with it.
Storeowners report that young people will come in to buy candy and give them $50 or $100 without expecting any change. They have no concept of saving or investing.
The people taking home these checks are not unlike lottery winners who tend to be no better off a few years after hitting the jackpot. According to the National Endowment for Financial Education, about 70% of those incurring a financial windfall lose that money within a few years. There is apparently something about earning money that makes people less willing to blow it.
As of 2013, the percentage of people living below the poverty line on the Cattaraugus territory (one of the Seneca territories) in Erie County was 23%. More than 60% of children under 18 are living with a single parent, according to the Census Bureau. Drug and alcohol abuse is rampant. According to one official, “Elders are being abused by their grandsons to support whatever habit they have. We have a lot of break-ins.”
The results have been similar across the country. Deron Marquez, who served as chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in Southern California from 1999 through 2006, tells me that the upside of his tribe’s bingo parlor is obvious. The tribe has more money to spend on health care, education and housing. But the gaming business has created problems too, particularly the payments that members of the tribe receive from it. “For anyone in society who has addictive behavior, we are making addiction stronger with per capita payments. We’ve become the enabler.”
But even for people who don’t have problems already, Marquez says it’s “hollow money. It’s just a new kind of government program — a tribal government program.”
Indeed, despite the Senecas’ attempts to use this money to improve life for members of the nation, things are still pretty bad. Storefronts sit empty. Children attend some of the worst performing public schools in the state. While some things like health outcomes have improved, there is still not much in the way of private enterprise. Most of the available jobs are menial ones at the casino.
It’s hard to see how turning tribe members into pot dealers will be an improvement.