As legalization approaches, Kahnawake prepares to make its own cannabis rules

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake has imposed a moratorium on the production, distribution and sale of cannabis on its territory, as the community wrestles with how to deal with the federal government's legalization of marijuana next July.

ChiefGinaDeer said Tuesday the Mohawkcouncil plans to pass its own legislation after consulting with residents, many of whom have safety and health concerns about legalization.

"This community has been zero-tolerance for many years," Deertold CBC Montreal'sDaybreak.

"Cannabis has been used medically for some time now, but accepting it as a legal substance is very difficult for our people."

The decision to impose a moratorium wasmade unanimously at a council meeting Monday.

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The federal government has vowed to legalize the drug by July 1, 2018.

The coming change, in Deer's view, represents bothan economic opportunity and a potential strain on the community'ssocial fabric.

As recently as last year, another councilchief,Carl Horn, wanted thecommunity toconsiderbanishing known drug dealersto confrontwhat he called an increasingly out-of-control problem with substanceabuse.

A recentsurvey in Kahnawake, on Montreal's South Shore,found that residentsare leaning towards supporting community-owned licensed cannabis,as long as itssale occurs off the territory.

Opportunityvs. concern

GhislainPicard, thechief of the Assembly ofFirst Nationsfor Quebec and Labrador, also has reservations about the coming legalization of cannabis.

Earlier this year, he questionedwhether First Nations in Quebec have the resources to accommodate such an industry.

"The concerns regarding the bill, and eventually the law, certainly outweigh the economic opportunities,"Picard said last April.

He said thereneeds to be more research and program development before communities enter the commercial marijuana market.

TheHuron-Wendatcommunity ofWendakehas alreadyrejected the possibility of any kind of pot business on its territory.

For KahnawakeMohawks, Deer said, the history of the federal government's involvement in the tobacco industry on the reserve servesas a cautionary tale.

"We have seen in the past with the tobacco industry how the federal government had issued permits to manufacture tobacco, and we don't want to see a repeat of them issuing permits in our territory," she said.

On the other hand, she said, several residents have reached out to council about the possibility of opening a production centre.

"Definitely, I see this as a great economic engine. If a community is going to agree to a production centre, it could be a great source of jobs," she said.

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The Quebec government, for its part, hasn't yet determined how it will regulate legalized marijuana.

Under the planned change at the federal level, it willbe up to the provinces to decide many of the rules that will govern marijuana'sconsumption and sale.