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A widely known B.C. native dancer charged with smuggling 83 kilograms of marijuana across the Canadian-U.S. border says the illegal drug was for use in a religious ceremony at an American Indian reservation.
U.S. border guards found the marijuana on Sunday in two motor homes crossing the border at Sumas, Wash. Ranger Oppenheim, who is in his 30s, was driving one of the vehicles, which were carrying nine people.
Mr. Oppenheim said he knew marijuana was in the motor home, according to the formal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
When questioned by a special agent from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, he said the group of seven adult natives and two children was going to a peyote ceremony at the Lummi Indian Reservation, about 30 kilometres south of the border.
Mr. Oppenheim told the U.S. agent that all of the marijuana was for use at a ceremony where peyote is used for religious purposes, the document states.
All seven adults were charged with importing marijuana, and could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted.
Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said prosecutors in Seattle did not recall a previous case at the border in which people accused of smuggling asserted marijuana was for a peyote ceremony.
"I'm not sure we have ever seen one where someone is bringing it in for ceremonial or religious use," she said in a telephone interview.
Mr. Oppenheim lives on the Shacken Indian reserve, an isolated community of 25 homes about 130 kilometres southwest of Kamloops. He is a well-respected drummer and dancer who has performed at events in British Columbia and across the United States, a neighbour and a family member said yesterday in interviews.
Jimmy Toodlican, who lives next door to Mr. Oppenheim, said Mr. Oppenheim goes to "powwows" to participate in competitions of traditional dancing and drumming. "He learned it from the elders. He used to run drumming groups," Mr. Toodlican said. "He goes wherever there is a powwow."
Mr. Oppenheim also makes traditional regalia for dancers and drummers, with eagle feathers and porcupine quills, he added.
"He's pretty well known, both north and south."
Mr. Oppenheim's cousin, Joan Seymour, said he has travelled to Arizona and New Mexico and to the eastern United States to perform as a traditional dancer. He stopped dancing after his father died a few years ago and did more drumming, she said, but has recently started dancing again.
Despite Mr. Oppenheim's comments to the border guards, a spokesman for the Lummi Nation said that the Lummi Indian Reservation does not welcome illegal drugs in its territory and that the Native American Church does not use marijuana in its peyote ceremonies.
"We have a community mobilization against drugs and alcohol," spokesman Jewell James said yesterday in a telephone interview.
"Our community and our leadership is committed to eliminating trafficking of narcotics and drugs into our community. This is an insult to the Lummi Nation. It's a disgrace to native American traditionalists and a disgrace to the Native American Church."
After a hard-fought battle for religious freedom, the Native American Church won the support of the U.S. Congress in the mid-1990s to use peyote as a sacrament in its ceremonies. Church members use peyote strictly according to ceremonial protocols, and not as a drug, Mr. James said.
He also said he had never heard of Mr. Oppenheim. "Whatever [those arrested at the border] were doing, it had nothing to do with those practising traditional methods of prayer," Mr. James said. "All members of the Native American Church would be deeply hurt when they hear this insult. . . . The American Native Church does not use marijuana in the peyote ceremony."
In the court document, U.S. Customs Enforcement Special Agent Shaun Smith states that five of the seven adults "confessed" to knowingly attempting to smuggle marijuana into the United States.
The marijuana was found in vacuum-sealed bags inside hockey bags, he stated. He heard different explanations from different people in the group. Some said they had come across the border with marijuana on several occasions and were paid for taking the trip. Others said the group was going to a religious ceremony.
A bail hearing for the seven Canadians is scheduled to be held today in Seattle.
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: https://www.globeandmail.ca/
U.S. border guards found the marijuana on Sunday in two motor homes crossing the border at Sumas, Wash. Ranger Oppenheim, who is in his 30s, was driving one of the vehicles, which were carrying nine people.
Mr. Oppenheim said he knew marijuana was in the motor home, according to the formal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
When questioned by a special agent from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, he said the group of seven adult natives and two children was going to a peyote ceremony at the Lummi Indian Reservation, about 30 kilometres south of the border.
Mr. Oppenheim told the U.S. agent that all of the marijuana was for use at a ceremony where peyote is used for religious purposes, the document states.
All seven adults were charged with importing marijuana, and could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted.
Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said prosecutors in Seattle did not recall a previous case at the border in which people accused of smuggling asserted marijuana was for a peyote ceremony.
"I'm not sure we have ever seen one where someone is bringing it in for ceremonial or religious use," she said in a telephone interview.
Mr. Oppenheim lives on the Shacken Indian reserve, an isolated community of 25 homes about 130 kilometres southwest of Kamloops. He is a well-respected drummer and dancer who has performed at events in British Columbia and across the United States, a neighbour and a family member said yesterday in interviews.
Jimmy Toodlican, who lives next door to Mr. Oppenheim, said Mr. Oppenheim goes to "powwows" to participate in competitions of traditional dancing and drumming. "He learned it from the elders. He used to run drumming groups," Mr. Toodlican said. "He goes wherever there is a powwow."
Mr. Oppenheim also makes traditional regalia for dancers and drummers, with eagle feathers and porcupine quills, he added.
"He's pretty well known, both north and south."
Mr. Oppenheim's cousin, Joan Seymour, said he has travelled to Arizona and New Mexico and to the eastern United States to perform as a traditional dancer. He stopped dancing after his father died a few years ago and did more drumming, she said, but has recently started dancing again.
Despite Mr. Oppenheim's comments to the border guards, a spokesman for the Lummi Nation said that the Lummi Indian Reservation does not welcome illegal drugs in its territory and that the Native American Church does not use marijuana in its peyote ceremonies.
"We have a community mobilization against drugs and alcohol," spokesman Jewell James said yesterday in a telephone interview.
"Our community and our leadership is committed to eliminating trafficking of narcotics and drugs into our community. This is an insult to the Lummi Nation. It's a disgrace to native American traditionalists and a disgrace to the Native American Church."
After a hard-fought battle for religious freedom, the Native American Church won the support of the U.S. Congress in the mid-1990s to use peyote as a sacrament in its ceremonies. Church members use peyote strictly according to ceremonial protocols, and not as a drug, Mr. James said.
He also said he had never heard of Mr. Oppenheim. "Whatever [those arrested at the border] were doing, it had nothing to do with those practising traditional methods of prayer," Mr. James said. "All members of the Native American Church would be deeply hurt when they hear this insult. . . . The American Native Church does not use marijuana in the peyote ceremony."
In the court document, U.S. Customs Enforcement Special Agent Shaun Smith states that five of the seven adults "confessed" to knowingly attempting to smuggle marijuana into the United States.
The marijuana was found in vacuum-sealed bags inside hockey bags, he stated. He heard different explanations from different people in the group. Some said they had come across the border with marijuana on several occasions and were paid for taking the trip. Others said the group was going to a religious ceremony.
A bail hearing for the seven Canadians is scheduled to be held today in Seattle.
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: https://www.globeandmail.ca/
