Uncertainty remains as cannabis legislation comes into effect

By Jennifer Pereira

PICKEREL–Medical marijuana dispensaries have been cropping up in Anishinabek territory over the past few months in anticipation of the federal marijuana legislation. This has some asking questions: Is marijuana a medicine? As Anishinabek, is it our medicine? How do we handle this in our communities?

The answers, according to a few Anishinabek Knowledge Keepers/Sharers, are not exactly clear-cut.

Perry McLeod-Shabogesic is a citizen of Nipissing First Nation and is a shkabewis (traditional helper). He says cannabis is both a medicine and a drug.

“It depends on how you use it, is the way I see it. If it’s used to bring balance in your life under the proper supervision, it’s like any kind of medicine. If it’s simply self-medicating or for recreation, it brings imbalance to your life and is not a medicine.”

Further north in Garden River First Nation, Darrell Boissoneau says it is a medicine.

“In it’s original form, it’s a medicine. It’s a plant that was given to us by the Creator,” he says.

Not only does Wasauksing First Nation member Jodi Contin agree with Boissoneau, she takes it one step further and indicates it is a medicine of the Anishinabek.

“I think it’s Mother Earth’s medicine, which makes it our medicine,” she says.

McLeod-Shabogesic doesn’t share that same thought.

“No, it’s not one of our medicines. It comes from another place. Like other medicines, we have opened ourselves up to accepting it,” he notes.

Opinions on its medical use is also an issue not mutually agreed upon in the western medical world. It’s been reported that doctors are ill-prepared to whip out their prescription pads to write out a prescription for medical marijuana. Doctors have cited that there are no long-term medical reports and research on the effects. Some are pro-cannabis for chronic pain and illnesses while others are worried about the effects of the recreational aspect.

Meantime, Boissoneau doesn’t weigh in either way about marijuana being an Anishinabek medicine.

“I think that is the unanswered question. We need more dialogue in our communities,” he says. “[A discussion] needs to be inclusive of knowledge keepers, medicine people, healers, young people. That conversation needs to happen to answer the question of if it is a medicine.”

“How do we understand it as a medicine for our people, or people with epilepsy and those with cancer? For sure there are benefits and we need to be really thoughtful about it,” he adds.

As far as how the legal weed will affect Anishinabek First Nations, Contin doesn’t believe it will have too much of an impact.

“They’re just not going to hide it as much,” she notes.

McLeod suggests Anishinabek citizens discuss how they want to handle the new law in their own respective First Nation.

“It’s medicinal versus recreational,” he says. “The community needs to sort it out and the issues need to stay separate.”

The legislation will also bring a boom of sorts and not unlike the historical wild, wild west, there’s much grey area with little attention to how the crops and products will be regulated and sold. And according to Boissoneau, the new law means business opportunities for some of the younger Anishinabek generations.

“Means there will be more open access,” says Boissoneau.

“I don’t think we have proper laws, our own proper laws to protect people in the community. That’s another thought process we need to go through and we need to regulate it,” adds Boissoneau concerning the issue in his own community of Garden River.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election promise to legalize marijuana in the country has not only First Nations scrambling to catch up, but also the provinces, municipalities and many enforcement agencies.

Today is the first day that cannabis is officially legal. Policies around the new cannabis law vary from organization to organization, municipality to municipality and province to province.

There are many unanswered questions about usage, benefits, regulation and enforcement.

“We need to really have a wholesome discussion about the effects, and we can’t stop it,” says Boissoneau. “How do we regulate it in our communities? How do we look after younger people in our communities and how they access it?”

McLeod encourages open dialogue and the impacts of the legislation.

“Just burying your head in the sand, and allowing community members to have free reign, is not the solution. The social impacts are too important to ignore.”