The Oklahoma Indigenous Woman of Cannabis -Their Stories

This month for our Native November Issue, I would like to honor the women here in Oklahoma who are Indigenous and working in the cannabis space in a spectrum of ways. I found this subject matter & the conversations fascinating and would love to share by highlighting these individuals. As it is incredibly important, I invite you to always support women in our cannabis community.

Carmen

When doing research for this article I had a few women in mind to interview and I am incredibly grateful they chose to speak with us. First on my list was Carmen White Eagle. When spoke to Carmen White Eagle about being an Indigenous Woman here in Oklahoma, I asked her about her background. She shared with us that she was a descended from the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma "on my Father, the late Paul Richardville’s side of the family and The Pawnee Nation on my mother, Vicki’s side. I have been active in Native Oklahoma through organizing and cultural protection for our 2spirit, femmes."

When asked about her passion she explained that "with my organization NOISE (Northeastern Oklahoma Safety & Education) I believe the matriarchy is what we hold sacred for a reason and for that same reason I choose to protect and educate women.”

Carmen received her yoga teacher training education back in 2016 & entered the space with the specific idea of helping people through cannabisassisted Yoga. “I do not require my yoga students to use cannabis but I offer a cannabis-safe space during all of my yoga classes,” Carmen said.

“I believe that cannabis and yoga go hand in hand as both are such powerful tools for healing and restoration. My people have always used plant medicine here on turtle Island (what is now referred to as the United States Mexico and Canada) truly since the beginning of time. Through my use of cannabis and other natural plant medicines, I practice my ancestors‘ healing ways with plants to honor my own heritage and their lives and pursuits” Carmen continued to share. We encourage anyone who is curious about cannabis yoga to connect with her and try out her classes.

Penny

Next up is Penny Lane, who is a quarter Osage & quarter Kiowa Native American woman. When we asked about her unique background she shared that she was the mother of a beautiful 10-year-old Cheyenne, Arapaho, Osage, and Kiowa girl. She went on to state "My mother was adopted from her birth mother, who was Osage. What I do know of her she was a head cook that helped with many ceremonial events. My father is half Kiowa, his mother is full Kiowa, and her great-grandfather was chief of their tribe at one point. Slowly, but surely learning my history and traditions as I get older and wiser. What I enjoy most is shawl dancing and attending powwows to hear, see, and learn about different tribes as they unite as one. Keeping traditions and customs alive."

We asked Penny about her reason for getting involved with cannabis and she said “I am a patient. I have always used cannabis as a healing method for physical and mental health. I have had two ACL surgeries, one on each of my legs & they artificial made my ACL with my hamstrings. So personal favorite and top form of cannabis I use are topicals." When we asked her about her cannabis industry background she had this to say "I was a processor, in Corn, OK. I enjoyed it very much and learned some very basic knowledge of decarbing and

tincturing. Taking notes on the dos and don'ts. For sure getting compliance down, but as patient, consultant, or doctor you want and should know how medicine is made, tested, and packaged.” She went on to share that she had “later moved on building and investing in a dispensary in Hobart, OK. I loved interacting with my patients. Hearing their stories and what I could do to help meet their medical needs. But I felt my heart was calling for more, I needed to get the education of this plant out there.”

“Then the opportunity that was chasing me on my journey this whole time opened back up, I was accepted to be a student at the Humboldt Cannabis Holistic Institute. I finally found my place, something that no one can take away from me.” Penny added that “Education and knowledge of this plant is key and power. Connecting the right people to network with patients and their community can 180 this industry completely. It's going to take working together and putting the price wars down. Bringing the knowledge what we know about this plant together to be efficient and consistent” said Lane.

Carrie

Next, we were able to interview Carrie Lehi for this piece. She started by telling us that her Cheyenne name is Moeke’meo’na. It means Buffalo Calf Trail Woman. She was named after her aunt and they were named after one of the women who helped to kill Custer. She is a proud Cheyenne woman whose family is from Hammon, Ok. When we asked her to share her history with us she stated “I am from the family of Chief Redmoon, who was the Chief of our land in Hammon when the Cheyennes first came to Oklahoma in the late 1800s.” She went on to share that she is from the Orange family and the Hoffman family who is also from Hammon. "Our land in Hammon is called the "Hevehetaneo'o" which means the Hair Rope people. We made rope out of buffalo hair.

We had the fiercest warriors they said, because of how much our women loved and cared for their warriors” she added. Her father was the last baby to be born and raised at camp. This was before everyone moved to the town of Hammon. She said, “his first language was Cheyenne and now he is only one of 9 fluent speakers left in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma." She went on to share that her life is devoted to the work she is doing with the elders. "We have no fluent speakers currently under 40” she said.

We asked Carrie about her involvement in the cannabis industry and she shared that she is working as a grower at a new facility in Oklahoma City. "I was able to get a job, helping get someone else started, with cannabis. I am happy about this, focused on the plants and more specifically focused on the babies and mothers.

The pruning and caring for the plants is the part I really enjoy. I am focused on cloning and the baby phase of the process now. Just being around the plants every day is healing” said Lehi.

When we inquired about being a native indigenous woman in the cannabis industry she had this to say “Being an indigenous woman is a blessing to be wherever I go, because that is how I have chosen to believe it to be. Our reality is subjective and as Cheyenne people, we are taught to think in a good way about life, that is the alchemy of our thoughts. That they can create reality. I am so thankful for this perspective.”

When asked about how she would like to give back to her community she shared that her dream is to hear Cheyenne spoken fluently. She would like to hear it from the children "I will work my whole life to hopefully achieve this. Currently, our fluent speakers are receiving no help or support. We are at a standstill with our language. They are all in their late 70’s and 80’s so every moment is precious. We really need advocacy and financial support so that our language can go on” said Lehi. If you can help Carrie and the people of the Cheyenne Nation &Tribes please reach out and connect with her.

Christian

Christian Stark is a Cherokee citizen that has lived and grown up in the Cherokee Nation. She shared that as a child she wasn’t taught too much about her lineage or heritage and as an adult, her experiences within the tribe have not been the greatest. "I have a hard time believing the leaders of our tribe have their citizen's interests in mind. Money and power do strange things to people” says Stark.

When we asked her about her involvement in the cannabis industry she stated that "I am a patient advocate for caregivers of individuals with disabilities. Striving to educate about plant medicine and safe alternatives to big pharma. I connect patients with safe educated doctors assisting them with their medical cannabis recommendations. I also coach individuals about health, wellness, and how to incorporate plant medicine remedies for everyday living.”

When we asked Christian about being an indigenous woman in the cannabis industry and how that affects her she said “I don’t know that many people in the cannabis industry even know of my cultural status. I don’t feel that I have ever been discriminated against within the community. I do most of my business in NE Oklahoma where we see indigenous people wherever we go. Many companies within the industry offer specials specifically for indigenous patients. If anything I’ve felt accepted, encouraged and uplifted within the cannabis industry as an indigenous woman.”

Christian had this to say about giving back to her tribal community and she shared that “I would hope to bring education to my tribe in overall health wellness and alternative medicine. Specifically those individuals in my tribe like my daughter. Those who don’t have a voice of their own.” She went on to state that her tribe does not support medical cannabis currently. "I would hope that its leaders would recognize the amount of education available to them and begin the steps forward to accept alternative medicine practices. As we all know our ancestors first taught us to use the land for our healing” said Stark.

Kelsey

To wrap up this month's article, even though this most certainly should be a series, we were able to interview Kelsey Cooper of Owasso, Oklahoma. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation (Bird Clan) and also of Choctaw. Currently, she is a member of the cannabis community rather than the industry and is the founder/lead admin of Grow Scouts a FB group for women and non-binary cannabis users. She stated that “In Grow Scouts, we share and discuss current events, politics, equality, sexy things, memes, and everything else under the sun. I created the group because other cannabis groups lacked or even banned important political and social discussions that are necessary for this community. Cannabis IS political in itself and those that use it, especially POC and LGBT+ patients, experience a greater impact from politics and current events.”

We asked Kelsey about her experience as an indigenous native woman and she shared many experiences. “In the industry, it was complicated. Especially as a native woman with brown skin. Cannabis is not a traditional American indigenous medicine (although we generally respect all plant medicines) but many people here try to imply that it is or use native imagery in their branding. Business owners that are citizens of legitimate tribes have every right (within reason) to promote their heritage or modern relationship to this plant in their branding” she said.

She went on to say the constant microaggressions including calling meetings or smoke sessions powwows or even making her "sit through another spiel about how someone's great grandma was Cherokee but didn’t sign up on the roles.” She expressed how she felt "unsafe travelling around the state by myself to visit dispensaries- which in rural areas are extremely sketchy and often uncomfortable, like the guy not much younger than my father making me do my sales pitch to him while he didn’t have a shirt on, or being in basically a shack or shop garage with one or two men by myself and nobody for miles.” She added that “this was extremely problematic because of the national emergency of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)- native women are TEN times more likely to be a victim of these crimes, and murder is the 3rd leading cause of death for us.”

When we asked Kelsey what plans she has to give back to her community she stated that “I recently completed my Masters of Indigenous Peoples Law from the University of Oklahoma and am beginning a career in film so that I can tell our stories (instead of a study of genocide as I have been for the last decade) and contribute to native visibility in mainstream media." She went on to say “I have dedicated the last two years of my life to my community by speaking to city councils when they spoke out against honoring treaties and our reservations, protesting when I can, helping register native voters for elections, going to cultural/community events for fellowship, and give space for my mixed sisters who also try to navigate and integrate their indigenous and English worlds. I do not have children yet but when I do, I plan to raise them in the Cherokee language immersion school at Tahlequah.” She also shared that she plans to raise them in the culture that she is learning and repatriating as well so that they can carry on the traditions and languages even further.

To all the indigenous women who participated, thank you. To all the many more out there please share your story. Let us help support, uplift and connect with you.