Kiza Park Hemp
Your purchase helps further the fight to restore hemp production to America's agricultural landscape.  

In 2002, we watched Alex White Plume — the only farmer within the borders of the United States to have planted, harvested, sold and delivered a crop of hemp since 1968 — look in frustration at his buyer and at the pile of harvested hemp stalks at his feet, the fruit of his labor that he could no longer legally touch. Evil had just been perpetrated.

In 1998, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, the governing body of the sovereign Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, repealed its laws barring hemp production. Alex White Plume and his family decided to acquire seeds and plant hemp. They planted in 2000. This action was specifically within the purview of the agreement between the United States and the Sioux Nation as stated within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty (still supposedly in effect), and is according to United Nations conventions.

In August of 2000, armed paramilitary terrorists wearing uniforms that proclaimed “DEA” and “FBI” swept down on White Plume’s farm and held him and his family at gunpoint while they harvested and stole his crop. They then fled back to their strongholds in the United States.

In 2001, White Plume planted again. In August, the terrorists came back and made the family watch as they tortured the hemp with weedwhackers. Again the terrorists fled back to the U.S.

In each of those two years, Alex had contracted with manufacturers for his crop. Since there was no crop to deliver, the contract was not filled. In 2002, the White Plumes planted again.

This time, they were able to harvest a significant amount of hempstalks, which they had contracted to deliver to Madison Hemp and Flax, a Kentucky company.

However, U.S. Attorney Mark Vargo and U.S. District Judge Richard Battey conspired in Rapid City to issue an injunction against White Plume, barring him from even thinking about growing hemp, which they called both “hemp” and “marijuana” in the same document. They did this because they knew they could not convict him in front of a jury.

If, however, someone says he violated the injunction, Battey can simply put Alex in prison for 18 months without trying him—for “contempt of court”.

In August of 2002, Alex and Craig Lee, from Madison Hemp and Flax, looked at each other across a pile of hemp stalks that neither could touch.

Ironically, feral hemp grows abundantly on Pine Ridge Reservation. We’re able to harvest plenty and make it “legal” (by removing the leaves and flowers), after which we can make stuff with it. Like the hemp paper and prints we feature in the Hemphasis store. Kiza Park is the White Plumes' private camping / concert / kitchen facility near the field in which the DEA committed its crimes. The hemp we harvest on Pine Ridge Reservation is collected from feral patches within a few miles of Kiza Park.

A significant portion of the proceeds from all "Kiza Park Hemp" items will be donated to the White Plume family. Their fight to force the Justice Department to adhere to the law continues.

•••••

If you have questions about the preceding statements, please email.