Chippewas of the Thames bans cannabis orders from Ontario

In an effort to assume control over the emerging recreational pot industry, the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation located in southwestern Ontario, has put in a ban on the delivery of on-line orders from the provincially-runcannabis store.

The move comes as the Ontario Cannabis Store opened its virtual doorsfor business Wednesday, selling dried flowers, oils, pre-rolled joints and accessories for delivery right to the doorstep.

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"We have to decide what's best for our community and our council took the stance that we will not allow cannabis to be sold on our reserve through [the province's] on-line system," said Chief Myeengun Henry of theChippewas of the Thames First Nation.

"We're looking at what we need to do as a nation to represent our people."

The regulation of recreational cannabis is in the hands of the provincial and territorial governments, but First Nations reserves are federal lands.

Self-regulation

Henry says they are not imposing an outright ban on the sale of cannabis, but are working with the province to find a way to regulate it onthe reserve.

"The province kind of stepped in here and told us what we needed to do and we say that we have stop doing that," he said.

"We have to start allowing our nation to regulate businesses as we see fit, for safety reasons, for economic reasons."

Until they get their own jurisdictionrights, Henry said, the ban for on-line orders will stay in place.

Over the last five years, Henry says the council has been working on an agreement with the province for the regulation of tobacco. He says they are in the process of developing a law that will give business owners on the reserve the right to receive the economic benefit from the sale oftobacco.

"We're at the point now where we're going to move that work over to cannabis, in order to have the opportunity to utilize that industry for our best purposes," he said.

Once those regulation laws are in place, Henry says the sale of cannabis will be allowed.

Safety concerns

There's concern that some of the missteps that were realized with tobacco could be repeated with marijuana.

"If you look at tobacco in the past, it kind of got out of control," said Henry. "The safety mechanisms were not there for us to support that industry, so what could happen with cannabis is there could be stores opening up, dispensaries unlicensed, and we need to make sure that all of that is regulated."

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He says a focus on protecting the consumers is the main concern.

"As long as we regulate it and we know that the products are safe and approved by our methods, not necessarily the province, but maybe coinciding with the province standards or higher for our case, we can [set up our own store]," saidHenry.

While there's no firm timeline in place, Chief Henry hopes the regulations will be approved and in place in the coming months.