How Indigenous Women Are Revolutionizing The Cannabis Industry – Forbes
Apr 11, 2024
Indigenous women are reclaiming their heritage through weed.
Reservations and the Native Americans who inhabit them walk a tightrope, balancing sovereignty with government relations. Tribes exist beyond the bounds of state lines, one reality that complicated the cannabis legalization matter even more. That’s why powerful indigenous authorities in the cannabis community are leading the way in collaborative and regenerative farming.
Mary Jane Oatman is among these influential voices. A member of the Nez Perce and Delaware tribes, she’s also the COO and Executive Director of the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Alliance. The ICIA hosts events year-round that amplify and support the indigenous entrepreneurs who work in cannabis.
“We need to do this in a way that does not create a capitalistic commodity on the backs of Mother Earth,” says Oatman. “That is one of those campaigns ICIA is working on, protecting Mother Earth. Growing cannabis in an environmentally conscious way that benefits the next generations. As an organization, we will dig our heels in the sand to make sure it is not a capitalistic approach, but a human and healing approach.”
