In a growing number of U.S. states, people can both drink alcohol and legally smoke recreational marijuana. In others, they can use alcohol but not pot. But on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the opposite is true: Marijuana is legal, but booze is banned. Citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe overwhelmingly voted in 2020 to legalize recreational and medical marijuana on their sprawling reservation, which has prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol for more than 100 years.
The South Dakota Department of Education on Monday, August 15, 2022, released new Proposed Soc. Study Standards for teaching social studies in grades kindergarten through 12. An earlier draft released last summer was criticized for not putting enough emphasis on Native American history. The new proposal was developed by the Social Studies Content Standards Commission, which included Native American representation. Commission member Joe Circle Bear of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said, “I am glad that Native American heritage and culture will be well represented in these standards. Governor Noem promised to tell our story as part of American history, and these standards do that.”