Dane Bebamash was charged under the Cannabis Act with operating a cannabis dispensary on Manitoulin Island. Mr. Bebamash believes that the medical cannabis system does not work for indigenous people and that a constitutional medical cannabis system requires in-person access to medical cannabis. Mr. Bebamash brought a constitutional challenge to the Cannabis Act. The charge was recently dropped. Mr. Bebamash feels strongly about the issues raised. We are posting online the documents that were filed because Mr. Bebamash wants to change the medical cannabis system so that indigenous people can access their medical cannabis in-person, from indigenous people and in their community.
It is true that band councils can permit or prohibit recreational cannabis on reserves. However, medical cannabis is different. All Canadians have a constitutional right to reasonable access to medical cannabis. That means that band councils might be able to prohibit recreational cannabis stores, but they cannot prohibit medical cannabis stores. What is reasonable access to medical cannabis mean for indigenous people? It does not mean receiving your medical cannabis in the mail from some far away corporation which is what the Cannabis Regulations mandate.
The indigenous approach to traditional healing is holistic, localized and social. It suggests a personal relationship between the person dispensing the medical cannabis, the person receiving the medical cannabis, and the medical cannabis. The indigenous approach to traditional healing and plant medicine focuses on the web of relationships between humans, plants, natural forces, spirits, and the land. It is a way of life and a collective dynamic that should not be isolated from culture, family and community.
More so than most medicine, medical cannabis is a medicine that should be dispensed to indigenous patients in a manner consistent with the indigenous approach to traditional healing and plant medicine. There are few medicines that lend themselves more to the indigenous approach to traditional healing than cannabis. Medical cannabis is a plant medicine, not a pill made in a pharmaceutical factory. Indigenous traditional healing has a strong history with plant medicine.
Also, medical cannabis impacts health in ways that enhance a person’s physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual well-being. Medical cannabis impacts not just pain, spasticity, and GI issues. It also helps addicts/ alcoholics reduce their dependance, reduces anxiety/ depression, improves appetite, helps with sleep and makes patients more social. Medical cannabis lends itself to a holistic approach to medicine as it addresses many aspects of person’s well-being. It is a perfect fit with indigenous traditional healing which embodies a holistic approach and considers health the sum of a person’s physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual well-being.
Also, medical cannabis is a psychoactive medicine which tends to enhance or bring about spirituality. That is strengthens, for some, the spiritual indigenous approach to traditional healing. Indigenous traditional healing is spiritual, expressed through the land and ceremonies.
Also, medical cannabis is an iterative medicine with many different strains of medical cannabis that impact different people and different conditions in different ways. This requires a more personal, interactive, and engaged relationship with the dispenser and the medicine. The indigenous approach to traditional healing and plant medicine requires a personal, interactive, and engaged relationship between the person dispensing the plant medicine, the person receiving the plant medicine, and the plant medicine.
The indigenous medical cannabis patient’s only point of contact is a customer service representative who is employed by the manufacturer and can only be reached by phone. That means that instead of a local, culturally-appropriate indigenous person independent of the manufacturer dispensing the cannabis and providing medical or spiritual guidance within their community, it is mailed by the corporate manufacturer which is a clear and obvious conflict of interest. Medical cannabis is the only medicine that is required by law to be dispensed by the manufacturer.
For indigenous medical cannabis patients, accessing their medical cannabis in-person, as-needed, locally, from an indigenous dispenser with whom they can have a relationship and access their medicine in a manner more in-keeping with the indigenous approach to plant medicine is more therapeutic. In addition, rooting healing in traditional indigenous perspectives cultivates a healthy understanding of what it means to be indigenous, undoes the effects of colonialism and promotes better community well-being.
Indigenous Canadians are entitled to reasonable access to medical cannabis.
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