{"id":100005,"date":"2025-12-04T14:07:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100005"},"modified":"2025-12-04T14:07:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:07:51","slug":"n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/04\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\/","title":{"rendered":"N.S. premier wants crackdown on illegal cannabis, asks Mi&#8217;kmaq chiefs for support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia government is directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis stores and wants help from Mi\u2019kmaq chiefs to shut down on-reserve sales. Justice Minister Scott Armstrong sent a letter to the province\u2019s 13 Mi\u2019kmaq chiefs saying there are at least 118 illegal dispensaries operating in their communities. However, when questioned by reporters today Armstrong said he didn&#8217;t know how many illegal stores were actually on First Nation land or elsewhere in the province. But he said there are in fact 118 illegal stores across Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia law strictly controls the sale of cannabis in the province, but an Indigenous cannabis advocate says the government&#8217;s crackdown is \u201cblatantly racist\u201d and an attack on Mi\u2019kmaq sovereignty. Thomas Durfee says he has a legal right&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F04%2Fn-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia government is directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis stores and wants help from Mi\u2019kmaq chiefs to shut down on-reserve sales. Justice Minister Scott Armstrong sent a letter to the province\u2019s 13 Mi\u2019kmaq chiefs saying there are at least 118 illegal dispensaries operating in their communities. However, when questioned by reporters today Armstrong said he didn&#8217;t know how many illegal stores were actually on First Nation land or elsewhere in the province. But he said there are in fact 118 illegal stores across Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia law strictly controls the sale of cannabis in the province, but an Indigenous cannabis advocate says the government&#8217;s crackdown is \u201cblatantly racist\u201d and an attack on Mi\u2019kmaq sovereignty. Thomas Durfee says he has a legal right... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F04%2Fn-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N.S. premier wants crackdown on illegal cannabis, asks Mi&#039;kmaq chiefs for support - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/04\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N.S. premier wants crackdown on illegal cannabis, asks Mi&#039;kmaq chiefs for support - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia government is directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis stores and wants help from Mi\u2019kmaq chiefs to shut down on-reserve sales. Justice Minister Scott Armstrong sent a letter to the province\u2019s 13 Mi\u2019kmaq chiefs saying there are at least 118 illegal dispensaries operating in their communities. However, when questioned by reporters today Armstrong said he didn&#8217;t know how many illegal stores were actually on First Nation land or elsewhere in the province. But he said there are in fact 118 illegal stores across Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia law strictly controls the sale of cannabis in the province, but an Indigenous cannabis advocate says the government&#8217;s crackdown is \u201cblatantly racist\u201d and an attack on Mi\u2019kmaq sovereignty. Thomas Durfee says he has a legal right\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/04\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T19:07:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"N.S. premier wants crackdown on illegal cannabis, asks Mi&#8217;kmaq chiefs for support\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-04T19:07:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":205,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/n-s-premier-wants-crackdown-on-illegal-cannabis-asks-mikmaq-chiefs-for-support\\\/\",\"name\":\"N.S. premier wants crackdown on illegal cannabis, asks Mi'kmaq chiefs for support - 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