History and Traditional Stories

“When I connected more to ceremonies, art, and focused on my mental wellness, I continued reading and learning more and decolonizing my thought around the cannabis plant. Now, it is legalized and there is a huge change in attitudes towards cannabis and thankfully, we have harm-reduction models of care. There’s a lot of work to be done still, but there’s a huge revival of people looking at cannabis as a healing plant.”

“Cannabis has been given to us by Creator, so it’s the same thing as other plant medicines. If we recognize its sacredness and treat it in a sacred way, then there are no issues. Like tobacco, if we use these medicines, these plants, in the way that they are intended, which is to heal us, to help us be connected to sacredness, to be grounded in the earth, then there is no harm.”

1. Can you tell me about cannabis in your community? Do you think many people use it and what impact it has had from your perspective?

I have seen cannabis help many people from decreasing their use of opioids to helping individuals with Parkinson’s disease by reducing other symptoms. Some people also claim that it helps them with their depression. For me, it has helped with my anxiety and with sleeping better. So, I’m glad that we decriminalized it, but we are still being regulated by the government. We need to be weary of those who want to control the system and repeat colonial patterns.

2. When did you first learn about cannabis? How was it viewed when you were a youth? Negative? Positive?

Cannabis use has always been around me. I remember working in the fruit and vegetable market in Ottawa and some of the farmers would grow and sell cannabis plants. By the time I was fifteen I was using cannabis daily, along with some harder drugs that were a part of my lifestyle at the time. Back then, cannabis use was seen very negatively and there was only one approach or model towards substance use: abstinence and prohibition, which was driven by this sense of morality or right and wrong. But we know that the prohibition model has never worked. It didn’t work in the depression years and it didn’t work when I was younger. So, we need to approach it differently.

3. Has the attitudes toward cannabis in your community changed since you were a youth? Was it a rapid change (over a couple years) or did the changes in attitude take longer?

Around the time I was 30, I wanted to start making changes to my lifestyle. I started cleansing my mind, reconnecting with my spirit, and going back to my family’s story. As I started using substances less, I struggled with the abstinence model that some elders endorsed. When I connected more to ceremonies, art, and focused on my mental wellness, I continued reading and learning more and decolonizing my thought around the cannabis plant. Now, it is legalized and there is a huge change in attitudes towards cannabis and thankfully, we have harm-reduction models of care. There’s a lot of work to be done still, but there’s a huge revival of people looking at cannabis as a healing plant.

4. Do you think cannabis is part of Métis culture? Are there any teachings that can be applied to cannabis use?

Cannabis has been given to us by Creator, so it’s the same thing as other plant medicines. If we recognize its sacredness and treat it in a sacred way, then there are no issues. Like tobacco, if we use these medicines, these plants, in the way that they are intended, which is to heal us, to help us be connected to sacredness, to be grounded in the earth, then there is no harm. There’s no harm because we respect it but if we use it in a way that we’re abusing it, where it’s causing harm to me, to my neighbor, to the society, then that’s a different story. So, for me, it’s always bringing it back to ceremony, and to physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.

5. Do you know anything about how cannabis was first introduced to your community or Turtle Island/North America as a whole?

I learned that the cannabis plant is one of the oldest in the world. It’s like billions of years old, but there’s only records of using it for about 12,000 years. I have read that it came out of China and one of the ways they would use it was they would create a drink with the leaves, and it would relieve pain and suffering. In parts of Africa, they ground the seeds and threw that on hot rocks for purification. There were all these different uses of the same plant: medicinal, ritual and recreational, but mainly as spiritual medicine because it was believed that it had magic. We need to recognize that plants have spirits and they’re living entities of the earth mother that need to be respected and protected.

6. Do you have any advice for a young person that has started using cannabis?

The most important thing is to do is approach the subject in a nonjudgmental way, because I was there, you know? If our role as wisdom keepers, leaders of ceremony, and as elders is to ensure that these teachings are passed on, then we’ve got to do it in a compassionate, loving, and caring way. I’d rather be known as a harm reduction elder than as a strict elder, where people are afraid to come and sit with me and discuss with me whatever’s going on. I think it’s going to take about a full generation to fully remove the stigma and to get to an understanding that these are medicines. And if you want to use it recreationally, then really make sure that you’re not hurting yourself or others when you do. That would be my recommendation.