3 Queens County residents among 21 charged in drug raids in southwestern Nova Scotia

 Date: Feb. 25th, 2025 - 4:06 PM

Some of the drugs seized in RCMP raids in southwestern Nova Scotia earlier in February. (RCMP Nova Scotia)

UPDATED Feb. 25 at 5:20 p.m.

RCMP have charged 21 people, including three from Queens County, with more than 50 offences after raids on Mi’kmaw-owned cannabis businesses in Queens, Kings, Lunenburg and Annapolis counties.

Southwest Nova RCMP called the operation Project Highfield. It began in October 2024 and involved 13 dispensaries throughout southwestern Nova Scotia.

RCMP said Tuesday it involved officers from various units, as well as police services in Kentville, Bridgewater and Annapolis.

Police raided the retailers between Feb. 4 and 13. Two of those were on the Wildcat and Ponhook reserves of the Acadia First Nation.

RCMP held a news conference in New Minas on Tuesday afternoon to announce the charges and items seized.

They conducted raids on dispensaries on- and off-reserve, Supt. Jason Popik of Southwest Nova RCMP told QCCR on Tuesday, including in Acadia, Glooscap and Annapolis Valley First Nations.

Police seized:

  • 141.4 kg of dried cannabis
  • 189.29 kg of cannabis edibles
  • 46 kg of liquid cannabis
  • 23.4 kg of hashish
  • 9.5 kg of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms
  • 958 cartons of unstamped tobacco
  • 18 firearms (17 long guns and a handgun)
  • $16,143.14 in cash
  • 3 ATMs
  • 7 shed-like structures

Supt. Popik told QCCR in an interview on Tuesday that organized crime is using indigenous communities to undercut the legal cannabis market, with unregulated product.

“I see them infiltrating the legal cannabis market and they’re really exploiting the indigenous communities,” he said.

“They’re trying to utilize the treaties to find a rational way for them to sell their drugs. And they’re doing it through the people running the different dispensaries. Organized crime will exploit any opportunity they have. … They’re making a lot of money, the dispensaries are the ones taking the risk and the dispensary owners are the ones being arrested.”

Supt. Popik said the wholesale value of all the drugs seized is about $1.25 million, while the street or retail value is between $2.5 and $3 million.

The Micmac Rights Association is protesting the RCMP action. Many of those charged belong to the organization.

The group says Mi’kmaw have a right under the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752 to sell cannabis at truckhouses on reserve.

They say officers desecrated sacred objects, destroyed personal property and traumatized Mi’kmaw men, women and children. The group plans a protest on the Angus L. Macdonald bridge in Halifax on March 10. On June 21, a 15-year-old boy will lead a 111-kilometre march from Annapolis Valley First Nation to the Dartmouth RCMP headquarters.

Twenty-one people are facing 52 charges under the Cannabis Act, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Excise Act and the Criminal Code, including:

  • Possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling
  • Unauthorized sale of cannabis
  • Possession for the purpose of trafficking (psilocybin)
  • Possession of unstamped tobacco
  • Possession of unstamped cannabis
  • Careless use of a firearm
  • Possession of prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition

Service Nova Scotia’s alcohol, gaming, fuel and tobacco division, and the federal Public Prosecution Service, also assisted in the investigation, RCMP said.

Those charged will begin to appear in court in June, RCMP say. They say their investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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