{"id":100279,"date":"2025-12-11T16:45:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T21:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100279"},"modified":"2025-12-11T16:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T21:45:45","slug":"nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Nova Scotia premier defends widely-criticized cannabis crackdown order"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Premier Tim Houston is defending his government\u2019s crackdown on cannabis dispensaries, despite widespread and escalating criticism, saying he is concerned about the illegal market. The premier says illegal cannabis is a public health risk and may be tied to organized crime and human trafficking. His government&#8217;s order last week to ramp up cannabis enforcement has prompted criticism that his cabinet may be interfering with law enforcement to target First Nations communities. Sipekne\u2019katik First Nation Chief Michelle Glasgow has called the province\u2019s directive appalling, and says the premier, justice minister and minister of L\u2019nu affairs are banned from band lands. A number of critics have raised concerns about the directive including the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi&#8217;kmaw Chiefs, the former minister of justice and attorney general, several First Nations members, two&#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%2F11%2Fnova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Premier Tim Houston is defending his government\u2019s crackdown on cannabis dispensaries, despite widespread and escalating criticism, saying he is concerned about the illegal market. The premier says illegal cannabis is a public health risk and may be tied to organized crime and human trafficking. His government&#8217;s order last week to ramp up cannabis enforcement has prompted criticism that his cabinet may be interfering with law enforcement to target First Nations communities. Sipekne\u2019katik First Nation Chief Michelle Glasgow has called the province\u2019s directive appalling, and says the premier, justice minister and minister of L\u2019nu affairs are banned from band lands. A number of critics have raised concerns about the directive including the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi&#8217;kmaw Chiefs, the former minister of justice and attorney general, several First Nations members, two... <\/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%2F11%2Fnova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order%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-100279","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>Nova Scotia premier defends widely-criticized cannabis crackdown order - 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\/11\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nova Scotia premier defends widely-criticized cannabis crackdown order - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Premier Tim Houston is defending his government\u2019s crackdown on cannabis dispensaries, despite widespread and escalating criticism, saying he is concerned about the illegal market. The premier says illegal cannabis is a public health risk and may be tied to organized crime and human trafficking. His government&#8217;s order last week to ramp up cannabis enforcement has prompted criticism that his cabinet may be interfering with law enforcement to target First Nations communities. Sipekne\u2019katik First Nation Chief Michelle Glasgow has called the province\u2019s directive appalling, and says the premier, justice minister and minister of L\u2019nu affairs are banned from band lands. A number of critics have raised concerns about the directive including the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi&#8217;kmaw Chiefs, the former minister of justice and attorney general, several First Nations members, two\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-11T21:45:45+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=\"2 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\\\/11\\\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Nova Scotia premier defends widely-criticized cannabis crackdown order\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T21:45:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/nova-scotia-premier-defends-widely-criticized-cannabis-crackdown-order\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nova Scotia premier defends widely-criticized cannabis crackdown order - 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