Minister repeats stance on unlicensed pot shop after meeting

The province’s Justice Minister Don Morgan met with Chief Anthony Cappo from the Muscowpetung Saulteaux First Nation on Monday morning to talk about a pot shop that has been operating without a licence.

Morgan said during the meeting, he repeated the province’s stance that it’s unacceptable for the store to be operating.

“We have a legislative framework for licensing cannabis retailers in the province and there’s a price and a value to an individual cannabis retailer,” Morgan said.

“You can’t have that watered down or diminished by somebody running an unlicensed or illegal one nearby.”

According to Cappo, the meeting was positive and they plan to have a second one.

Although the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority has said the First Nation needs a provincial licence to open the store, Cappo has claimed it has a sovereign right to pass its own laws concerning marijuana.

Morgan said it will be up to the courts to decide on who has jurisdiction.

SLGA has sent a letter to the store, named Mino Maskihki Cannabis Dispensary, asking it to close.

The minister said this shop is not being treated differently from other unlicensed ones.

“We don’t tell the police what to investigate, when to charge, where to charge. That remains the position that we have. The police and the prosecutions in our province operate independently,” he said.

With files from Canadian Press