{"id":9525,"date":"2025-12-08T15:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=9525"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:04:42","slug":"nova-scotia-calls-for-cannabis-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/12\/08\/nova-scotia-calls-for-cannabis-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Nova Scotia calls for cannabis crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The Nova Scotia government wants to put illegal cannabis dispensaries out of business. (The Province of Nova Scotia)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Nova Scotia government wants police to crack down on illegal cannabis sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

Justice Minister Scott Armstrong recently asked all police agencies in the province to step up their enforcement efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIllegal dispensaries pose a real threat to consumers, to youth, and to the integrity of our regulated system,\u201d Armstrong said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already taken steps to confront these risks, but the challenge is evolving, and so must our response. Protecting Nova Scotians means strengthening our efforts, advancing new measures, and shutting down this shadow market before it can cause more harm to public health and safety.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. is the only legal retailer of recreational cannabis in the province.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent government review found at least 118 illegal outlets across Nova Scotia, compared with 51 legal NSLC cannabis stores.<\/span><\/p>\n

The province says it\u2019s concerned that because illegal sales are unregulated, they pose threats to public health. Provincial officials are also worried about the involvement of organized crime in the cannabis trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

RCMP charged 21 people with 50 offences in February after raids on Mi\u2019kmaw-owned cannabis businesses in Queens, Kings, Lunenburg and Annapolis counties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Southwest Nova RCMP’s Project Highfield began in October 2024 and involved 13 dispensaries throughout southwestern Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three people from Queens County were among those charged.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supt. Jason Popik told QCCR at the time that organized crime is using indigenous communities to undercut the legal cannabis market, with unregulated product.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see (organized crime) infiltrating the legal cannabis market and they\u2019re really exploiting the indigenous communities,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to utilize the treaties to find a rational way for them to sell their drugs. And they\u2019re doing it through the people running the different dispensaries. Organized crime will exploit any opportunity they have. \u2026 They\u2019re making a lot of money, the dispensaries are the ones taking the risk and the dispensary owners are the ones being arrested.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to asking police to step up their enforcement, the government is also asking radio stations across the province to turn down advertising from illegal dispensaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter to advertising sales managers, Armstrong said that even though promotion of cannabis is illegal, some non-NSLC operators are advertising on credible media outlets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy choosing not to air or publish promotional messages for illegal cannabis operators, <\/span>you will be helping to protect public health and support community safety,\u201d Armstrong writes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would urge you to support public health and safety in Nova Scotia by ensuring your outlet does not accept advertising that promotes illegal cannabis sales.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Micmac Rights Association, which protested the RCMP action earlier this year, said that the province has no jurisdiction over indigenous and treaty rights. They say the 1752 treaty gives them the right to sell cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group said the province is just upset that Mi\u2019kmaw dispensaries are undercutting the government\u2019s \u201ccannabis monopoly\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

In second-quarter financial results released Dec. 2, the NSLC said local cannabis sales were up by 3.8 per cent to $9.6 million.<\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cannabiscrackdowndec825.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nova Scotia government wants police to crack down on illegal cannabis sales. Justice Minister Scott Armstrong recently asked all police agencies in the province to step up their enforcement efforts. \u201cIllegal dispensaries pose a real threat to consumers, to youth, and to the integrity of our regulated system,\u201d Armstrong said.\u00a0 \u201cWe have already taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[3634,144,3628,1682,3636,3632,3630,3631,3629,2568,3633,3635],"class_list":["post-9525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-1752-treaty","tag-cannabis","tag-cannabis-dispensaries","tag-crime","tag-indigenous-rights","tag-jason-popik","tag-marijuana","tag-micmac-rights-association","tag-nova-scotia-liquor-corp","tag-police","tag-scott-armstrong","tag-treaty-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9525"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9532,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9525\/revisions\/9532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}