Global Ganja Report

A growing number among Canada's First Nations are looking to legal cannabis as a path to economic empowerment. Others are deeply skeptical, recalling the bitter history of substance abuse among Canada's indigenous communities. Yet all seem united in demanding sovereign control on the cannabis question within their own reserves.

Amid the controversies over how Canada's federal government and provinces will divide regulatory oversight as well as the tax revenues from legal cannabis, a largely overlooked question is the role of the country's First Nations. With passage of the Canadian Cannabis Act now imminent, indigenous groups agree they want more involvement in the process. But First Nations are divided between those hoping for a windfall from legal sales and those actually calling for passage of the Cannabis Act to be put off because native peoples were not properly consulted.

With Canada on a final one-month countdown to legal cannabis, the country's provinces are adopting widely varying regulation regimes, creating a "crazy quilt" policy patchwork. While Ontario and Quebec are opting for provincial government monopolies on retail sales, Alberta and Saskatchewan have embraced a private model, sparking a flood of canna-capital into these western provinces.

With US stock exchanges still almost entirely closed to cannabis businesses, the stateside industry is increasingly seeking access to the Canadian exchanges in order to secure investment. Taking over publicly traded Canadian firms through reverse mergers has emerged as the critical tactic in this endeavor.