Toronto police are raiding pot dispensaries throughout the city
The day of reckoning for Toronto’s storefront marijuana dispensaries has been drawing nearer ever since mayor John Tory began fulminating against them a few weeks ago. Now, the day is here: police are currently in the process of raiding several dispensaries in different parts of downtown.
This isn’t—or, shouldn’t be—a surprising development. Despite lots of talk about “grey areas” in Canada’s drug laws, there is currently only one definitely legal way to get weed in this country: with a medical marijuana prescription, from a regulated mail-order supplier. There’s nothing in the law that explicitly authorizes storefront marijuana sales, even for medical purposes.
The Toronto Police Service has yet to release the names of the businesses on the to-bust list. A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow morning:
Update on # search warrants~locations~charges~products seized to be announced at press conf 10:30am May27 40 College St #ProjectClaudia ^sm
— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) May 26, 2016
The police say property owners were warned:
Toronto Police confirm locations targeted as part of #ProjectClaudia were provided with letter of caution to property owners on May18 ^sm
— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) May 26, 2016
It’s clear that Kensington Market, where there were at least half a dozen dispensaries operating at last check, is a centre of law enforcement activity at the moment. Here’s video of Toronto Cannabis Dispensary, on Nassau Street, being swarmed by police earlier this afternoon.
Twitter is full of reports of other dispensaries in similar situations:
Eden Dispensary 760 Queen St. West, Toronto raided now. Employees in handcuffs.
— Marc Emery (@MarcScottEmery) May 26, 2016
CALM #dispensary at 556 Church St. #Toronto raided by ETF again #medical #marijuana stop wasting our #tax dollars!
— Joseph Silverman (@jewseppi) May 26, 2016
About five officers inside THC on Baldwin, five more police bikes and two cruisers outside a dispensary around the corner on Kensington Ave.
— Chris Reynolds (@ChrisAReynolds) May 26, 2016
Toronto Police and city bylaw raided Danforth pot shops as part of #ProjectClaudia #TOpoli pic.twitter.com/uZo60S6qnW
— Don Peat (@reporterdonpeat) May 26, 2016
More Marijuana
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/toronto-police-are-raiding-pot-dispensaries-throughout-the-city/&title=Toronto police are raiding pot dispensaries throughout the city&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/the-toronto-dispensary.jpg&description=The day of reckoning for Toronto’s storefront marijuana dispensaries has been drawing nearer ever since mayor John Tory began fulminating against them a few weeks ago. Now, the day is here: police are currently in the process of raiding several dispensaries in different parts of downtown.
This isn’t—or, shouldn’t be—a surprising development. Despite lots of talk about “grey areas” in Canada’s drug laws, there is currently only one definitely legal way to get weed in this country: with a medical marijuana prescription, from a regulated mail-order supplier. There’s nothing in the law that explicitly authorizes storefront marijuana sales, even for medical purposes.
The Toronto Police Service has yet to release the names of the businesses on the to-bust list. A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow morning:
https://twitter.com/TorontoPolice/status/735879165384249344
The police say property owners were warned:
https://twitter.com/TorontoPolice/status/735885479862755329
It’s clear that Kensington Market, where there were at least half a dozen dispensaries operating at last check, is a centre of law enforcement activity at the moment. Here’s video of Toronto Cannabis Dispensary, on Nassau Street, being swarmed by police earlier this afternoon.
Twitter is full of reports of other dispensaries in similar situations:
https://twitter.com/MarcScottEmery/status/735870566251565056
https://twitter.com/jewseppi/status/735884075353903104
https://twitter.com/ChrisAReynolds/status/735881141253591041
https://twitter.com/reporterdonpeat/status/735881333994627076
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