Exactly one week after Toronto Mayor John Tory announced impending crackdowns on the city’s illegal-yet-plentiful cannabis dispensaries, Toronto police made good on the promise, executing a series of dispensary raids across the city yesterday morning.
The targets: all seven Toronto storefronts of the BC-based Canna Clinic, along with five Toronto residences and three Vancouver residences.
Details on the dispensary raids come from the Toronto Star, which reports “[o]fficers at the scene said they were going to arrest the staff members and seize all illegal drugs.” (Also seized: dispensary workers’ cell phones and all money connected to sales.) Staff members exiting one of the raided storefronts told the Star they expected the clinic to reopen within the next few days.
Ultimately, six people were charged in yesterday’s raids, and are due in court today. “Toronto police did not provide information about the charges those individuals will face,” reports the Georgia Straight.
Stay tuned for more on the raids and the fallout. For now, please enjoy this million-dollar quote obtained by the Star, from a Toronto cop involved in the raids: “It’s not like we want to be doing this, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.”
