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Toronto police and drug squad raid marijuana dispensaries
From The Toronto Star:
Toronto police and the Drug Squad have been raiding a series of marijuana dispensaries in the city since noon on Thursday.
Through the investigation, called Project Claudia, members of the Toronto police drug squad and front line officers, in partnership with the City of Toronto, have issued a series of search and arrest warrants, according to Toronto police.
“The project targeted various locations that have been identified as trafficking in marijuana outside of the marijuana-for-medical-use regulations,” said Const. Caroline de Kloet.
Canna Clinic, which appears to have been spared the raids so far, sees customers lining up as early as 9:30 a.m. on weekends, Hodgins said.
Canna Clinic kept up a buzzing business amid the raids up and down the street Thursday afternoon.
Mayor John Tory did not respond to request for comments on the raids Thursday but the mayor talked about “these so-called dispensaries, which are bogus” on CP24 the previous night.
“You know what they are? They are the people who were chased out of Vancouver when they brought in a licensing system and they all said that’s no problem we’ll go down to Toronto,” Tory said.
“They’re conducting activities that are not within the law and I just think we can’t have them popping up on every street corner and near schools and messing up the livelihood trying to be earned by small business.”
Through the investigation, called Project Claudia, members of the Toronto police drug squad and front line officers, in partnership with the City of Toronto, have issued a series of search and arrest warrants, according to Toronto police.
“The project targeted various locations that have been identified as trafficking in marijuana outside of the marijuana-for-medical-use regulations,” said Const. Caroline de Kloet.
Canna Clinic, which appears to have been spared the raids so far, sees customers lining up as early as 9:30 a.m. on weekends, Hodgins said.
Canna Clinic kept up a buzzing business amid the raids up and down the street Thursday afternoon.
Mayor John Tory did not respond to request for comments on the raids Thursday but the mayor talked about “these so-called dispensaries, which are bogus” on CP24 the previous night.
“You know what they are? They are the people who were chased out of Vancouver when they brought in a licensing system and they all said that’s no problem we’ll go down to Toronto,” Tory said.
“They’re conducting activities that are not within the law and I just think we can’t have them popping up on every street corner and near schools and messing up the livelihood trying to be earned by small business.”
Full article here: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/05/26/toronto-police-and-drug-squad-raid-marijuana-dispensaries.html
And the CBC's coverage here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-marijuana-shops-warrants-1.3601413
It's a breaking story, so I expect to hear more in the coming days about what's really going on. Strange timing given that legalization seems to be just around the corner, or at least in the pipeline.