Illegal pot shops popping up in Indigenous communities, including at least two in Southwestern Ontario, pose a new challenge to police ahead of the government's plan to start selling recreational marijuana, one industry watcher says.
ONEIDA – Illegal pot shops popping up in Indigenous communities, including at least two in Southwestern Ontario, pose a new challenge to police ahead of the government's plan to start selling recreational marijuana, one industry watcher says.
Police forces have been engaged in a whack-a-mole style battle with cannabis dispensaries that have proliferated in cities across the country ahead of the federal government's plan to legalize the drug's recreational use in July.
While police raids have largely targeted city dispensaries, those on Indigenous communities appear to be flying under the radar as more of the unsanctioned businesses set up shop.
"There's no mechanism to stop them from popping up," said Jenna Valleriani, a post-doctoral student at the University of British Columbia and member of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
Indigenous leaders say they should be given the right to regulate the sale and distribution of marijuana in their communities. But private retailers, including existing dispensary operators, have been shut out in Ontario, where pot sales will be restricted to the Ontario Cannabis Store and through its affiliated online service.
The Red Eagle, an unsanctioned pot shop on the Oneida of the Thames First Nation southwest of London, sells marijuana, hash and cannabis oils and edibles to customers over 19 years old. A pre-packaged gram of marijuana costs between $10-15 depending on the strain. The operators declined comment Tuesday.
Another dispensary, Wild Bear, operates out of a trailer on neighbouring Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.
Both dispensaries attract customers, who aren't required to have a medical marijuana licence, from London, where only four storefront pot shops remain after a series of police raids in the past two years.
Crackdowns on Indigenous-run dispensaries are rare in Ontario. One exception has been in Six Nations, an Iroquois community near Hamilton, where police most recently raided a dispensary in January, seizing cash, cannabis products and charging five people.
But in most Indigenous communities, like the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation near Belleville, where there's more than a dozen dispensaries, authorities turn a blind eye to the businesses.
"I think that they are insulated from legal action like we're seeing in Toronto," Valleriani said, referring to the police raids and bylaw fines targeting dispensary operators in Canada's largest city.
Neither Oneida Chief Randall Phillips or the local police responded to a request for comment Tuesday.
The police could theoretically go in and try to close them, but then it opens up this whole other conversation about whether or not . . . they're allowed to be pursuing enforcement on (Indigenous) land.
Valleriani said the flurry of dispensaries appearing in Indigenous communities shows the residents' desire to get involved in the legalized marijuana market, a process critics say has too many barriers.
"This pop up of dispensaries is really a reflection of that," she said.
The Ontario government has pledged $40 million from its share of the marijuana tax to help with policing and safety costs related to legalization. The province is also creating a Cannabis Intelligence Co-ordination Centre to help crack down on dispensaries and train police.