First Nations group enters pot partnership
• An indigenous company is getting into the medical marijuana business for the first time through a joint venture partnership, with plans to expand into First Nations communities across the country.
Indigenous Roots, a partnership with Cronos Group, which owns two licensed cannabis producers, is led by Phil Fontaine, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. It’s focused on indigenous ownership and operation as well as providing jobs to First Nations communities, Fontaine said Tuesday in an interview in Toronto.
It plans to target more indigenous involvement in the space, both through improving access for its customer base and by creating a network of indigenous-run marijuana facilities on reserves across the country.
“It’s about revitalization of First Nations economies, it’s about wealth-creation, it’s about providing a service to an underserved client group, it’s about jobs, training and its about capacity building. And I think there are real opportunities here for the indigenous community.”
The group will also lobby the federal government to provide medical marijuana insurance coverage for indigenous people, the way it does for veterans — something Fontaine believes is imminent and inevitable.
The venture aims to pro- vide a model for more First Nations involvement in the medical cannabis industry, and Indigenous Roots plans to consult and work with First Nations interested in participating through investment, job opportunities and having a facility on their land.
“This is about compassionate care and providing help and alternatives to some other substances that cause addiction and do more damage than good,” said Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Torontobased Cronos Group.
“We just agreed that it was time for an indigenous group to have access, whether on a partnership basis or on their land and this is a way to accelerate that.”
The partnership with Cronos, which owns medical marijuana producers In The Zone Produce Ltd. and Peace Naturals Projects Inc., provides First Nations an expedited path for investment, operation and participation in the nascent marijuana economy, as it doesn’t need to spend years working through Health Canada’s intense licensed producer application process.
Instead, the partnership with existing licensed producers will provide a platform for expansion between In The Zone’s operations in British Columbia and Peace Naturals in Ontario through expansion permits. The two companies collectively own 145 acres of land and are licensed to produce 2,600 kilograms of cannabis annually.