Less pot, no federal raids through early hours of marijuana festival on Indian land near Las Vegas

By Chris Kudialis

Saturday, March 4, 2017 | 3:29 p.m.

A marijuana festival on Indian reservation land that gained national attention earlier this week after a U.S. federal attorney threatened to shut it down was held Saturday just north of Las Vegas with few sightings of the plant and no sign of law enforcement intervention.

Thousands of festival-goers from around the country flooded into a vendor-filled 10-acre plot of land on the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians Reservation to celebrate the area’s first Cannabis Cup festival, which originated as an expo for the marijuana industry in Southern Nevada. But the flavor of the event changed after U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden threatened legal action if federal guidelines for marijuana were not followed, prompting vendors to either stay home or pull products containing THC from their displays. THC is the chemical compound that gives marijuana its narcotic effect.

“We wanted to support the cannabis movement, so we kind of took one for the team this week,” said Corey Thomas, founder of Los Angeles-based marijuana edible and topical lotion company Honey Pot Bear.

Thomas’ company was one of dozens of marijuana vendors forced to alter their inventories to meet the last-minute restrictions of this weekend’s festival. Known for topical lotions infused with THC that Thomas said help reduce inflammation and swelling, the company was using non-THC versions of their lotions in free massages offered to festival-goers. Honey Pot Bear, who has sold the lotions and pot-spiked wildflower honey in previous festivals in California, sold only T-shirts and company merchandise on Saturday.

While Honey Pot Bear decided to attend the weekend festival, empty booths were visible throughout the venue, and three interviewed vendors said they knew of fellow vendors originally scheduled to attend the Cannabis Cup that had dropped out in the wake of tightened venue restrictions, which called for pot-free versions of company products.

Some attendees at the event didn’t know the rules. Others expressed mixed reactions at having to leave their pot behind.

Farmington, N.M. resident Emma Reyes travelled seven hours with her four daughters and niece to attend her first Cannabis Cup, a “bucket list” item for a self-described “pothead.” Reyes, 61, whose daughter Ashley Reyes was scheduled to perform on stage with Destiny Rydas as part of a festival music lineup that included rappers Ludacris and Chief Keef, said not allowing marijuana consumption on festival grounds would “take away from the experience.” In response to the prohibition of cannabis consumption on the festival grounds, she said she ingested marijuana in her car before entering the venue.

“You’re not going to stop people from getting high at an event like this,” Reyes said. “They’ll find a way.”

Ryan Caldwell and son Tristan Caldwell bought Saturday tickets at a makeshift box office set up in front of the festival grounds as a spur-of-the-moment addition to their four-day Las Vegas vacation. Residents of Winona, Minn., Ryan, 48, and Tristan, 22, proudly displayed Banana Kush marijuana joints they smuggled into the venue past hired security that searched festival-goers’ bags and purses at the venue’s entrance, before sitting down in the festival’s VIP area and lighting up. They were not approached by security during a 10-minute smoke session.

“It’s part of the experience,” Ryan Caldwell said.

Event organizers cited a Feb. 16 letter from U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, who, with members of the FBI and FDA, also spoke with the Moapa Paiute’s tribal council last month to warn of consequences for violating federal marijuana laws, calling for federal investigation and prosecution if marijuana was used, distributed or sold on the tribe’s land this weekend.

Bodgen’s letter rebuffed 2013 and 2014 directives from the Obama administration which seemingly loosened federal pot restrictions on Native American reservations in states where recreational marijuana was allowed. In the letter, Bogden said such directives were written to provide guidance for U.S. Attorney’s offices, but that pot was still illegal under federal law.

Bogden did not immediately respond to multiple calls for comment on Saturday.

The Cannabis Cup festival, sponsored by marijuana magazine High Times, has been held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Smaller versions of the event have made its way to the U.S. this decade in marijuana-friendly states such as Washington, California, Oregon, Colorado and Michigan. The Moapa Paiutes’ contract with High Times calls for semiannual versions of the festival to be held through 2019, estimated to bring in a combined $3 million in revenue to the tribe, said William Anderson, former Moapa Paiute chairman and current tribe spokesman.

Anderson estimated nearly 15,000 attendees and 250 vendors from about 15 countries attended the event, which began Saturday at noon, and concludes on Sunday evening. 10,000 tickets were sold in the past week alone, Anderson said.