Suspected cannabis seized
The Kahnawake Peacekeepers are warning parents to be vigilant after minors in the community were caught using Snapchat to buy cannabis products.
A 22-year-old man from Kahnawake was arrested last month following the incident. He’s now facing pending drug-related charges.
“We just encourage parents to be a little more vigilant with their children,” said Peacekeepers spokesperson Kyle Zachary “There’s a lot of bad out there that they can be exposed to on these apps.”
Two local minors were involved, one being 12 and the other being 13.
One of their parents contacted the police force after going through their children’s phone. From there, the parent was able to identify the suspect. The parents of the minors then pointed Peacekeepers to where they could find the man.
On September 23, Peacekeepers located him and searched of the inside of his car. Inside they found numerous suspected cannabis products, including two packages of cannabis brownies and six vapes.
The man is from Kahnawake but isn’t currently living in the community, the Peacekeepers shared with the community.
The 22-year-old faces possible charges of possession for the purpose of sale and selling to a youth. His charges are only expected to be formally laid following his first scheduled court appearance this coming January.
Rebecca D’Amico works in prevention at Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) and said there’s services available for parents worried about their children’s use of cannabis or any other drug.
Intake workers with their addiction response team can provide counselling, as well as referrals to medical professionals, psychologists, and treatment centres.
“It’s definitely more accessible now than it was years ago, especially with legalization that made it a lot more accessible and somewhat ‘acceptable,’” said D’Amico, who previously worked as an intake worker for KSCS.
“Even though there’s age limits, there’s a bit of a different relationship to cannabis than there was when I first started.”
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Their prevention programming revolving around alcohol and cannabis at schools starts as young as grade four. Vaping, including with cannabis vapes, takes up a big part of those discussions, she said.
“We focus on physical impacts, impacts on your brain, and impacts on your development,” D’Amico said. “We try and get the information out to students, because we know that it’s happening in the schools.”
Their lessons provided to high school students meanwhile focuses more on what causes people to be drawn to drugs and alcohol. Students also learn about why some use substances as a means to cope with trauma or other difficult mental health issues, and the long-term risks that come with using drugs to self-medicate.
