{"id":100138,"date":"2025-12-09T08:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T13:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100138"},"modified":"2025-12-09T08:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T13:23:19","slug":"n-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/09\/n-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive\/","title":{"rendered":"N.S. RCMP says it was already tackling illegal cannabis before minister&#8217;s directive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia RCMP say they have no plans to change their approach to tackling illegal cannabis in the province, despite a new provincial government directive calling for a police crackdown. Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson Cst. Mandy Edwards said that&#8217;s because Mounties in the province are already enforcing existing laws. &#8220;For us it&#8217;s business as usual. This does not change how we operate and enforce those provincial and federal laws,&#8221; Edwards said in an interview Monday. The comments come a few days after Justice Minister Scott Armstrong issued the directive to the RCMP and other Nova Scotia police forces, instructing them to prioritize cannabis enforcement. It specifically directs police to focus on intelligence collection, identify and disrupt illegal cannabis operations and distribution networks and report \u201cenforcement outcomes\u201d&#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%2F09%2Fn-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia RCMP say they have no plans to change their approach to tackling illegal cannabis in the province, despite a new provincial government directive calling for a police crackdown. Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson Cst. Mandy Edwards said that&#8217;s because Mounties in the province are already enforcing existing laws. &#8220;For us it&#8217;s business as usual. This does not change how we operate and enforce those provincial and federal laws,&#8221; Edwards said in an interview Monday. The comments come a few days after Justice Minister Scott Armstrong issued the directive to the RCMP and other Nova Scotia police forces, instructing them to prioritize cannabis enforcement. It specifically directs police to focus on intelligence collection, identify and disrupt illegal cannabis operations and distribution networks and report \u201cenforcement outcomes\u201d... <\/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%2F09%2Fn-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive%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-100138","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. 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Mandy Edwards said that&#8217;s because Mounties in the province are already enforcing existing laws. &#8220;For us it&#8217;s business as usual. This does not change how we operate and enforce those provincial and federal laws,&#8221; Edwards said in an interview Monday. The comments come a few days after Justice Minister Scott Armstrong issued the directive to the RCMP and other Nova Scotia police forces, instructing them to prioritize cannabis enforcement. It specifically directs police to focus on intelligence collection, identify and disrupt illegal cannabis operations and distribution networks and report \u201cenforcement outcomes\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/09\/n-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-09T13:23:19+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=\"5 minutes\" \/>\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\\\/09\\\/n-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/09\\\/n-s-rcmp-says-it-was-already-tackling-illegal-cannabis-before-ministers-directive\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"N.S. 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