As Ontario opens up the number of licenses it’s willing to grant to REC retailers located on First Nations, one of the business-owners eligible for a license—Sherry Lee Ann Kohoko of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in the Ottawa Valley—is presently operating an unlicensed dispensary, and doesn’t intend to shut it down.
Ottawa Citizen
- If Kohoko gets a REC retail license, she says she will open that store either in a separate building on the same property, or upstairs from her unlicensed dispensary, which she says is only the jurisdiction of her Nation’s band council, not the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Ottawa Citizen - While some believed the AGCO’s willingness to work with an unlicensed dispensary operator showed Ontario’s desperation to begin licensing First Nations REC stores, Kohoko’s decision may present a kink in the Ford government’s plan to eradicate unlicensed cannabis on First Nations.
Twitter—Jordan Brant - Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia, RCMP have taken a novel approach to avoiding the legal snakepit of busting First Nations dispensaries. Instead of harassing dispensaries on Millbrook First Nation, some RCMP have reportedly taken to stopping only the cars of apparently non-Native customers leaving the dispensaries.
Truro Daily
Quick Hits
- If you’re on a plane from one Canadian airport to another and the plane has to land in the United States, dump any cannabis you’ve got in your carry-ons—the American border people do not mess around with this stuff, despite it being legal at the state level in many places.
CBC British Columbia - Nova Scotia RCMP said a parent reported finding cannabis edibles in her child’s Halloween candy. The child was one of a group of eight, and was the only child to be given the edibles, which were labelled as containing THC.
CTV News, CBC Nova Scotia
