Tracy Lamourie | Cannabis Digest

It’s becoming a little exhausting being a cannabis activist in Ontario. In the time it takes to smoke a pin joint in a crowd, it seems the entire landscape has changed…and before you even have time to do a dab, it’s changed again.

Originally I had planned to use this space only to update Cannabis Digest readers on months of battle by movement leaders, canna business people, patients, and canna consumers to save our Ontario vapor lounges in advance of Bill 45 …See the previous issue of Cannabis Digest for details on the Wynne government’s inclusion of cannabis in the Smoke Free Ontario act, and the extremely disturbing effects that is having on patient rights to medicate…in some cases even in their own homes (if they live in public housing or if they ever need the services of a PSW or home care worker.) This bill is expected to close the doors of every Ontario vapor lounge, and have a chilling effect on vendors, who would no longer be allowed to display, demonstrate, recommend, or even answer customer questions about vaporizers and how to use them.

We’ll get back to where we are in that important battle. But first, let me tell you what happened in the middle of that fight. For the past two decades Toronto has been a city with fewer than a dozen cannabis dispensaries, operating quietly. But after Toronto’s mayor John Tory did several media interviews lamenting the proliferation of new cannabis dispensaries suddenly popping up in every neighborhood, everything changed. It happened just days after cannabusiness owners, patients, and other stakeholders gathered to be heard via legitimate channels. They were silenced via a bureaucratic loophole that had citizen onlookers, there for other business, shocked at how the activists’ voices were unheard.

Toronto area canna businesses were attacked in a mass police raid that targeted masses of shops across the city over the noon hour one day at the end of May. It was dubbed “Project Claudia” by the police. No one can complain that the raids were completely unexpected. The Toronto Police Service and the Municipal Licensing Department had both sent out letters to the businesses in question – and their landlords – in the preceding days. But they were certainly irresponsible, expensive, and heavy handed. The arrests were traumatizing for many of the patients and hourly wage employees caught up in them. Reports are that police came in with guns drawn, and handcuffed even a wheelchair bound patient at one dispensary, and smashed the glass doors leaving broken glass shattered on the sidewalk, putting pets and passersby at risk for hours at another dispensary. This is strange behavior for an action the police chief describes as “low key,” and excuses as ‘in the interest of public health.’ And as mainstream media across the political spectrum, including the ultraconservative Toronto Sun, pointed out, this was a gigantic waste of taxpayers’ money–estimated between 1 and 2 million dollars, without counting the cost to landlords and business owners, lawsuits, and so many related future costs. This was a regressive, reactionary display of modern reefer madness,’’ this time motivated by money and monopoly. And it has not been a popular move. It’s not just patients & potheads who are upset. Even the conservative leaning Toronto Taxpayers’ Coalition put out a strongly worded press release condemning the raids, and at last count an online poll the Sun ran had more than 75% of respondents saying they did not support the “Project Claudia” crackdown.

At a press conference held by Toronto Police the morning after the busts, as activists convened both inside and outside Police Headquarters, Chief Saunders attempted to justify the raids. Saunders replaced ex chief Bill Blair who was Toronto’s top cop until he left to become an MP and member of the new Liberal government’s task force on legalization. It was clear that Saunders was completely unprepared for the challenges of activists. He kept repeating his talking points, but he had no understanding of the Allard decision, issues patients have with accessing good medicine in the strains that they need at the time that they need it via the current licensed producer system. You almost felt sorry for him. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and had to admit under questioning that, with over 100 dispensaries and compassion clubs operating in the city for several months, there had in fact been no reports of any health issues at all, around either medibles or any other dispensary product.

On the Monday following the raids, arrestees, activists, and their advocates gathered at City Hall to protest Project Claudia, while Toronto City Councillor Joe Cressy called on the federal government to give municipalities some guidelines in dealing with cannabis as we await the promised legalization. Several more demonstrations are planned over the coming weeks, and it is hoped that the cannabis enthusiasts who participate in 420 celebrations every year will come out in force to support our spaces. As Sean Brady said, “you were there for the glory…will you be there for the fight?”

Meanwhile, business at the dispensaries that were not hit in the busts remains brisk. One patient-focused centre, True Compassion Toronto, is open and serving members only. In the days following the crackdown, they reported an extremely busy week, with desperate patients phoning for information and looking for alternatives to access their medicine after so many in the city were put out of business. Many have vowed to reopen. Rick Vrecic, a patient volunteer and co founder of the facility said he understood the risks, but he also said: “We here at TCT feel that providing our members safe dignified access is paramount in these troubling times. Therefore as long as we are able, we will be open to serve you our members.”

Activists are calling Project Claudia, Project Fraudia…it’s a clever turn of phrase…but just who is “Claudia” anyway? And why was the massive bust of pot shops in Canada’s largest city named after her? Well…that’s an interesting question. The police say they took it from the name of a hurricane. But the powers that be might have accidentally sent out a message we should all consider. In mythology, Claudia was the innocent who protected a member of the nobility from the anger of a crowd. In real life, “Claudia” will not be able to protect the power elite from the anger of the people demanding justice, and the right to use this healing plant. Some of the previously hit dispensaries are reopening, and others remain untouched. Even as rumours of a second cycle of raids circulated in the cannabiz community, new dispensaries are opening across Ontario, and a well known Vancouver based brand opened two locations in Toronto the day after the raids, proudly announcing that not only would they be dispensing cannabis…but that they would sell to anyone over the age of 19, no medical need required.

Cannabis Culture Manager Erin Goodwin, a long time Toronto cannabis activist, previously known for her work with Toronto’s 420 celebrations, Vapor Central, and the firebrand HashMob, told Cannabis Digest : “Our aim is to not discriminate between the healthy and sick, we do not want to invade our clients’ privacy by inquiring their reason for using, as long as they are an adult we feel they should have safe access. While some feel we should wait for proper legislation it is important that our experienced opinions to be taken into account, and the only way to get our voices heard is to openly and peacefully break these unjust laws.”

Supporters and media across the city waited with bated breath to see how police might respond. The answer came nearly a month to the day after the first raids, and just days after a passionate group of canna patients, business owners, and other advocates gathered to show their support for community compassion clubs and dispensaries, and protest the raids and shameful waste of police resources. Police raided the Queen St West Cannabis Culture and three Cannawide locations across the city, arresting more than 20 people including Erin Goodwin, and Peter Melanson. Melanson is well known to the canna community as a previous owner of one of Hamilton’s first dispensaries, and of Melanheadz lounges, first in Hamilton, and later in Toronto. More recently he worked with the Goodwins at Goodweeds before its unexpected closing. He has now joined them as an employee at the Cannabis Culture that Erin was managing. A third female CC employee who was arrested, it is reported, had only been working at the dispensary for two hours. She was shocked to be put in handcuffs on her first day.

It seems the police wanted to make a point. Unlike the previous wave of arrests, this one came with no special accommodations for arrestees to be immediately released. Both Erin and Pete had to spend a night in jail before attending court in the morning. Unbowed, and as determined as ever to force change, Erin (whose court conditions say she can’t be at the Queen St West location) greeted customers with a smile and several strains of bud at the chain’s Queen St East location. She was joined by the corporate owner who flew into town the day after the raid, and spent some time over the next couple of days serving at the counter, and taking the opportunity to speak to the media. One bright moment shone through all the anger about the raid. That was the moment when a photo of Erin in custody circulated. The canna community expressed pride that instead of doing the shamed head down perp walk…Erin looked radiant and confident being led away from the dispensary to face the law, not only smiling widely at the cameras but flashing a peace sign. Most of us first saw the image when Chris Goodwin shared it with the hashtag #proudhusband … She made us all proud with that single image; it said so much.

Activists are calling for all charges against ALL dispensary employees to be dropped–those whose names and faces we know and those less familiar young people; hourly wage workers, many patients themselves who were also arrested. But so far TPS is sticking to their guns, threatening further arrests and saying they expect charges to stick. We’re hoping the courts feel differently.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on our vapor lounges. Just as Ontario patients, canna consumers, activists, advocates and business owners tried to catch their breath, the Members of Provincial Parliament gathered to vote on Bill 178,an amendment to Bill 45, that would have exempted cannabis patients, their homes and safe spaces from legislation originally meant to address e-cigarettes and the vaping of nicotine. As ridiculous as it is to equate medicine and medical devices with tobacco and nicotine, cannabis advocates in Ontario are reeling from the results of that vote. In a final count, unbelievable to many–78 for; 1 against–it effectively closed our social spaces and severely encroached on a patient’s right to medicate even in some private homes. This is inexcusable.

In spite of these difficulties, as is the case with dispensaries, new vapor lounges owners are determined to open their doors and provide safe inhalation spaces even in communities where they have been unknown to date. As I mentioned in my previous article on the topic, in the conservative SW Ontario community of Chatham, Ontario (between London and Windsor) business partners Michael Kaer and Jefferey Allen have been working toward the opening of their long awaited lounge, The Other Side, for the local cannabis community, which until now has never had a social space in which to gather. When asked his thoughts about the coming legislations, Kaer said : “We are opening regardless, we are going to open as a coffee house if we have to, until we can force change in the law. We need safe inhalation spaces.”

With all this happening, and with the promise of legalization, we’re at the cusp of a new reality – and we have to be a part of shaping it!

We’re all looking up at the clock on Parliament Hill. The big hand is on the four…and – oh look! The little hand is on the four, too. Because it’s 2016.

Article source Cannabis Digest

June 27th 2016 | Activists, medical marihuana patients, dispensary owners and supporters, are silenced yet again at Toronto City Hall as the Licensing and Standards Committee delays agenda item on Cannabis Dispensaries until the Federal and Provincial government provide further instructions, Councillor Mammoliti moves to defer and takes an ultra-vires walk of shame, while Councillor Karygiannis is treated to a heroes welcome as the lone committee member to vote against the deferral motion. a ‘Game of Licensing and Standards’ legalization is coming…

                  “It’s a play that’s going on. It’s a play.”

                  Councillor Jim Karygiannis (Ward 39)

Featuring coverage of press scrums and interviews with Tracy Curley, Amy Anonymous, Don Briere, and more…

City of Toronto | Toronto Dispensaries Coalition | CannDo | Queens of Cannabis | Weeds Glass & Gifts | Tracy Curley | Hot Box Cafe | Toronto Holistic Cannabinoids | Toronto City Council | #ProjectClaudia

… liscensed producers who are telling them to push these meetings off. Come on they’re here weeks leading up to the raids and then the licensed producers aren’t responsible for this and the city have nothing, nothing to say for themselves? please. It’s ridiculous”

WATCH the full Toronto City Council Licensing and Standards Committee meeting June 27, 2016 on youtube:

DOPECHEF Media

Marijuana dispensary reopens day after being shut down in Toronto police raids

This protest was also featured on Rock and Roll Canada | CTV Toronto | Global News live

Save our Dispensaries | TracyCurley.ca | Cannabis Rights Coalition | CFBA | Cannabis Culture

music clip credit Dj Premier ‘worst nightmare’

Dopechef Media

Ted Smith | Cannabis Digest

Everyone knows by now that Toronto police raided 43 cannabis dispensaries on Thurs May 26 but it is still not clear to everyone who influenced the chief of police in his decision to create Project Claudia.  Mayor John Tory, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are all washing their hands clean from the decision making process.  Tweed, a Licensed Producer, is apparently training Toronto police how to determine whether or not a suspect is in possession of cannabis legally obtained by an LP versus black market herb, giving many reason to believe large LPs are pushing for police action on illegal dispensaries.  But aside from the police, who always seem keen to arrest people, who pushed for these raids?

The real accomplice in these raids in the little known Public Prosecution Services of Canada.  This is the group mentioned by chief Mark Saunders in the press conference but those asking questions did not focus on it, instead pointing to political pressure as the reason for the sudden heavy show of force.  Clearly these raids would never have occurred if the PPSC was not fully in support of spending millions of dollars of taxpayers money seeking convictions for both trafficking cannabis and possession of proceeds of crime.

This is not the first time the PPSC had pushed for criminal charges in cases that have a questionable likelihood of success of conviction and where the public interest is not clearly in support of seeking convictions.  In the case of Owen Smith, former head baker of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, it was obvious at several points that the PPSC is out of control in its relentless pursuit of cannabis convictions.  After appealing the case all of the way to the Supreme Court of Canada they lost a unanimous decision that forced the government to make changes that should have been implemented after they lost in the lower courts.  Instead of dropping the case before trial, leaving the law unchallenged, these lawyers pushed their frail arguments before the courts as far as they could until the whole country could see how profoundly backward the medical cannabis programs are.

So what is the PPSC?  According to their webpage:

“The creation of the PPSC reflects the decision to make transparent the principle of prosecutorial independence, free from any improper influence.”

“The relationship between the Attorney General and the Director is premised on the principles of respect for the independence of the prosecution function and the need to consult on important matters of general interest.”

“Safeguarding the Director’s independence is the requirement that all instructions from the Attorney General be in writing and published in the Canada Gazette. In turn, the Director must inform the Attorney General of any prosecution or planned intervention that may raise important questions of general interest, allowing the Attorney General the opportunity to intervene in, or assume conduct of, a case.”

Since nothing has appeared in the Gazette there has been no formal efforts on behalf of the federal Liberals to pressure the PPSC for police raids on dispensaries, nor do other levels of government have direct influence on crown lawyers.  On the flipside, it does not appear that the director of the PPSC informed the AG that these raids were planned.  If the AG, Jody Wilson-Raybould, was contacted it is unlikely she would have agreed to raid less than half the dispensaries in one city without directly crown lawyers to shut them all down across the entire
country.

The same sudden rash of raids on dispensaries happened in Naniamo, BC late last year, with 3 of 11 clubs getting robbed under the guise of a warrant in one day.  All of the clubs reopened soon after the raids and that city is now preparing to license dispensaries, due in part to public pressure in support of storefront clubs.  It does not seem like any trials will even start as a result of these raids, despite the PPSC being fully supportive of each one.

With legislation to legalize cannabis less a year away, the federal Liberals are looking very weak for dragging their feet while so much police and court time is being used prosecuting people for crimes that will be soon become highly sought after jobs.  If the Liberals want to earn any respect from the public on this issue, they need to reign in the director in charge of the Public Prosecution Services of Canada before more police raids and lengthy trials waste valuable government resources hurting people helping patients.  Letting zealous crown lawyers and police that care little about human rights set the tone for legalization is making Justin Trudeau look very bad.

http://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/bas/index.html#mandate

Article source Cannabis Digest

BY ENZO DIMATTEO

MAY 29, 2016 | Now Magazine

It looked like Toronto police had invited media for munchies Friday.

The press conference at police headquarters to announce details of the cops’ raids on pot dispensaries had all the elements of a carefully-choreographed attempt by the cops to strike fear into the hearts of Torontonians – with marijuana-laced lollipops, candies, chocolate and cookies. All of which elicited a predictable question from one of the more, um, out-to-lunch among the media horde about whether police had investigated the possibility of such edibles getting into the hands of children. Shock and horror.

Chief Mark Saunders said there was no such evidence. Nor was there any evidence of the products on display posing a danger to consumers. Yet, the chief insisted Thursday’s busts of some 40-plus dispensaries across the city – where 269 kilos of dry leaf was also seized – were carried out with the health of consumers in mind. And not in the name of some new chapter in the war on weed as the feds figure out how to legalize it.

Saunders says the cops were also responding to community complaints and concerns about “community safety.” Where have we heard that before?

Thankfully for the handful of pot activists who crashed the presser, Saunders didn’t get a free ride on that one. Just who are the cops trying to protect anyway?

Certainly not medpot patients who are now going to have to go back onto the black market, “in the back alleys,” as one protester at police headquarters put it, for their supply. Or, is it the interests of licensed medpot producers with Bay Street connections, the same ones providing training to Toronto police on the ins and outs of medpot laws, that the cops (and our big biz friendly mayor) are watching out for? Strange days have found us.

Saunders says he was not “politically pressured” to carry out the raids, just in case there was any doubt. Hard to believe, though, when you consider Mayor John Tory has been warning for the last couple of weeks about lowering the boom. The city sent strongly-worded letters to landlords renting space to pot businesses warning of $50,000 fines and that they would be shutdown, even as the city was supposed to be working on regs to license dispensaries.

Indeed, with all the popping off about the recent increase in gunplay in the city, this latest bit of reefer madness provides a timely smokescreen for Tory and Saunders. The idea wasn’t lost on the pro-cop Sun, or Tory’s former campaign adviser, Nick Kouvalis, who took to Twitter to offer the opinion police should probably be focusing their efforts on real drug dealers, you know, the ones with guns. But as to the why now, the answer is a little more complicated.

It’s pretty safe to say that the chances of the 186 drug-related charges laid by Toronto police against 90 people (for possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and 71 charges related to proceeds of crime) have little chance of sticking once legalization arrives. By the looks of it, most of the dispensaries busted were selling to customers with legit prescriptions from doctors. If the idea was to go after the “alarming” proliferation of “bogus” operations, as Tory called them, selling to anyone who walks in the door, then why bust businesses selling weed to medpot users authorized by Health Canada?

Saunders was asked about that. His (somewhat inarticulate) answer was that “their intentions may be well-served, but at the end of the day it’s unlawful. Where’s the marijuana coming from? We don’t know.”

It’s not clear if Saunders meant to suggest the weed being sold by dispensaries to legit patients is being supplied by the black market. Most of it, in fact, comes from licensed producers. Only, not the 30 or so licensed producers, of LPs, with Bay Street connections authorized by the Harper government to sell weed to patients. But independent growers licensed to grow weed by Health Canada under the old medpot regime, known as MMAR. And therein lies the legal gray area.

Licensed producers say these independent growers are not authorized to sell weed to dispensaries.

“Our concerns with dispensaries are that they provide a product that hasn’t been tested and comes from an unknown source,” argues Mark Zekulin, president of Canopy Growth Corporation (Tweed), the country’s largest LP. “Most claim that they purchase from MMAR growers to prove that they are operating legitimately but no provisions of the MMAR allowed for resale. In fact, illegal diversion from the MMAR was the main reason the program was shuttered in favour of a regulated production system.”

Except, in February, a B.C. court judge ruled unconstitutional the newer medpot regime brought in by the Harper government, known as MMPR, which authorizes only Health Canada licensed producers to sell weed. Specifically the court struck down the provision in MMPR prohibiting patients from growing pot for personal use, essentially blowing up the monopoly enjoyed by Health Canada authorized LPs.

The court also found the regulations were unconstitutional because their effect was to limit supply and therefore access to medpot patients.

Which brings us back to the whys and wherefores of the city’s crackdown on dispensaries. To find the answer to that one we need only follow the money. Isn’t that always the case when drugs are involved?

One pot entrepreneur who called NOW’s offices as the busts were being carried out Thursday, let’s call him Felix, says the raids have much to do with Health Canada authorized LPs feeling the financial burn from storefront competition.

Adding smoke to that speculation is the somewhat cozy relationship between LPs and police. Tweed, for example, provides training to Toronto police on the ins and outs of medpot laws.

Zukelin says, “Tweed provides a great deal of training to police forces, but the purpose is to protect our patients and ensure that police understand the legal system so if our patients are stopped, police have the training and education to understand the legal rights of patients. Full stop.”

Zukelin adds that the decision to raid storefront dispensaries “have nothing to do with us.”

The timing was nevertheless curious. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence then that Tweed chair and CEO Bruce Linton was at City Hall last week, just 48 hours before the raids were carried out, to announce a new “compassionate pricing” regime of $5 per gram and same-day delivery of its product.

From Felix’s perspective, Thursday’s raids are a timely “clearing of the field” for Ontario licensed producers, who’re losing something like $5 million a week in potential profits to dispensaries raking in between $30,000 and $60,000 on a good weekend. Which may explain why licensed producers are now considering opening up their own storefront operations – dispensaries without product – to bring in more customers off the street.

It typically takes up to two weeks for medpot users to get their supply in the mail from Health Canada licensed producers, one of the reasons dispensaries have popped up and are preferred by medpot users. Another is product quality. Licensed producers have gotten mixed reviews for their bud. Storefront operations also allow patients to see, touch and smell the product they’re buying.

Zukelin counters that licensed producers “provide information on the scent and appearance of the bud so people can make a decision between the dozens of products we have.” He says prices are lower, too, (“as low as $4.80 a gram”) and the product is delivered to your door free so that “people can try a few out and find the one that works for them.”

Making Thursday’s crackdown more hazy is the fact the city was supposed to be working on regulations for dispensaries, like they have in Vancouver, where the operations pay a licensing fee and are required to be a certain distance from schools.

At least, that seemed like the plan when Tory appointed Joe Cressy chair of the city’s Toronto Drug Strategy Implementation Panel. On Monday, May 30, Toronto’s Board of Health is scheduled to debate a framework for legal pot.

But it appears that Cressy and the mayor may have had a parting of the ways on the issue.

Cressy plans to table a motion at the Board’s meeting calling on the feds “to provide immediate guidance on how cities should approach non-medical possession and sale of Cannabis based on a public health approach, rather than simply a criminal justice one.”

“This is a national issue, not just a Toronto one,” Cressy said in a statement. “We can’t arrest our way to a solution.” Apparently, the city is intent on trying anyway.

@enzodimatteo

Article source Now Toronto

‘I didn’t know it was illegal’: Toronto pot-shop owner says she was blindsided by police raids

‘I thought when Justin Trudeau said it was going to be legal, it was going to be legal’

CBC News

Aamra Hallelujah thought it was a good time to open a marijuana dispensary in Toronto — that is until five officers busted open the door of her shop and placed her and one of her employees under arrest.

Hallelujah’s storefront dispensary, Up Cafe, was among 43 such locations raided by Toronto Police on Thursday, when 90 people were arrested and slapped with a total of 186 charges. The raids also saw 269 kilograms of dried marijuana and a large quantity of cookies and other marijuana edibles seized.

It was a terrifying ordeal, Hallelujah said, especially because she now faces criminal charges for what she says is the first time.

“I’ve never even had a parking ticket,” she told CBC News.

• Toronto police raid storefront pot shops suspected of trafficking
• Pro-pot protesters call dispensary raids a ‘power play’ by police
• ‘It’s unlawful’: Police Chief Mark Saunders defends pot dispensary raids

Hallelujah, who already has a dispensary in British Columbia, opened her Toronto location in March, not long after Justin Trudeau announced he was ready to move on legalizing the sale of marijuana. But as Canadians await the specifics of that legislation, Hallelujah said she was blindsided by the raids in this city.

“I said [to them] I really don’t know it was illegal. I thought when Justin Trudeau said it was going to be legal, it was going to be legal.”

‘There’s all sorts of things that can happen by mail’

Dispensary owners aren’t the only ones caught in legal limbo — their customers are too.

Jeff Dorazio is one of them. He has a prescription for medical marijuana stemming from a painful nerve condition called neuralgia.

But rather than ordering in the drug by mail from a designated medical supplier and waiting for it to be shipped to him, Dorazio says he prefers to go to a shop in person so that he can see what exactly he’s purchasing.

“There’s all sorts of things that can happen by mail. If I don’t have it, my neuralgia cycles back in it’s very painful. I’m off work.”

“Here, there are different strains,” he said. “I know ones that are, say, maybe higher in CBD (cannabidiol) than THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). They do the job but I don’t have to be stoned. I can smoke one in the morning and it’s not going to knock me on my tail,” Dorazio said.

Toronto’s Police Chief Mark Saunders told CBC News on Friday that the raids came as a result of talking to community members worried about the number of dispensaries popping up.

But after Thursday’s raid many are wondering why some dispensaries caught the ire of police and others did not.

A location called the Green Room on Spadina Avenue was all but turned upside down for example, while another Green Room on Dundas Street remained open for business on Saturday, at least until the afternoon.

Police raids ‘not fighting real crime’

For her part, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne has acknowledged the confusion resulting from a lack of clarity around pot regulations, saying, “We’re a bit in the weeds…But I do think that as the federal government gets its legislation and its protocols in place, it will be clearer then what the provinces need to follow through with.”

• Liberal leader ready to act on legalizing marijuana, but wants sales to be tightly controlled

But to the head of Toronto’s Dispensary Coalition Adolfo Gonzales, operating storefront dispensaries is a victimless crime and raiding them is distracting from what he calls the city’s bigger issues.

“That day, our police force was not fighting real crime because they were putting well-intentioned young people in jail.”

For Saunders, if dispensary operators are concerned about helping people, they should be applying for the necessary licenses.

That’s something Hallelujah says she simply can’t afford. Besides, she says, if legalization is already in the works, having a medical license may soon not be a requirement for all pot vendors.

For now though, her shop remains closed. She expects to learn more about the charges against her when she’s due in court on June 15.

Article source CBC News

Toronto’s pot shop crackdown was long overdue. Here’s why

LJUBICA KOSTOVIC

Contributed to The Globe and Mail

Ljubica Kostovic is the director of communications and research at GrowWise Health, which helps patients navigate Canada’s medical marijuana program. Two principals of GrowWise Health are also principals of a licensed medical marijuana producer.

The long-awaited police crackdown on dozens of dispensaries in Toronto should be welcome news for patients everywhere.

The majority of the hundred and some dispensaries in Toronto today are nothing more than recreational pot shops.

These recreational pot shops are giving compassion a bad name. They are tainting a very significant movement in Canada’s history and they are doing it all under the guise of operating as “medical” marijuana dispensaries.

Still, when someone asks me how I feel about dispensaries and compassion clubs, my answer is: I am grateful.

It is an answer that sometimes catches people off guard given my current role in helping patients navigate the Health Canada medical marijuana system.

I am grateful to the brave social activists who took enormous risks so many years ago and provided true compassionate care to those in need when the government and the public recoiled from the issues that faced them.

I am thankful for the civil disobedience of true compassion clubs, dispensaries and patient advocates who gave us the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) and, eventually, the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).

Would I feel comfortable getting my medication from a dispensary? Absolutely not. Why? Because I can’t take the risk.

The proliferation of recreational pot shops has no doubt been sparked by the impending promise of legalization. The mess of the current dispensary landscape is further complicated by the lack of access, education and health-care provider support that plagues the MMPR system.

The Toronto police crackdown on the city’s dispensaries is a step in the right direction toward examining the negative effects these dispensaries have had on patient care.

In the past, compassion clubs and medical dispensaries had been revolutionary in providing access to patients and paving the road for the licensed production of the best pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis available today. Recreational pot shops, disguised as compassionate dispensaries, have not.

Although there may still be a few medically inclined compassion clubs that try to source quality product from MMAR growers exclusively – which, while still very illegal, is at least considerate – the majority of the dispensaries out there today are sourcing product from the black market.

As a fibromyalgia patient, it is crucial for me to know exactly which products, exercises and therapy options work for me. It is vital to every aspect of my being that I know that the medications I am taking are really what the label says they are. It is imperative that I can rely on a product to be of consistently good quality once I have finally found something that can help me heal.

It’s not that we have one system over another – a dispensary or a licensed producer. My issue is that, as patients, we are entitled to a system that prioritizes patient patient care. At the moment, Toronto dispensaries are not equipped to provide adequate care to the medical patients using their services.

It has been a long journey learning how to cope with my chronic pain. Learning how to live life to my fullest potential, with pain. Learning how to come to terms with the knowledge that all of my best efforts to cope could easily be thwarted by relying on recreational pot shops to get my medication.

When you are living with a chronic illness, you are living with a constant fear of relapse. You are living in fear that if you don’t eat right, sleep well, exercise, stay on top of all your health appointments and medications and mindfully carry yourself through life’s ups and downs, you will relapse into a world of unmanageable physical and emotional pain.

I cannot risk my health and well-being by using unpredictable, illegally obtained product that could potentially worsen my symptoms. Nor should I have to worry that my dispensary CBD capsules may actually be filled with very potent THC oil. As a patient, I deserve better. We all deserve better.

As someone who is part of the medical marijuana space in a professional capacity, I know that I am privileged to have access to information that will get me the best services to suit my health needs. As a patient, I know that I am privileged to have the support of my physician and to have access to education resources that many patients do not.

I entered the medical marijuana space with one intent and one intent only: to help patients in any way I could. This piece is my way of trying to start a different kind of conversation about Toronto’s dispensaries. I hope we can acknowledge the effects of recreational pot shops on medical marijuana patients and that we can work together to ensure true patient care.

For me, compassion still has meaning.

Article source Globe and Mail

HANLON’S JOINT: POT RAIDS A TOTAL BUST

SARAH HANLON/ 24 HOURS

We have all heard about the “grey” zone when it come to the green stuff … so let me try to clear the air.

Project Claudia will go down in history as a massive blunder for the Toronto Police Services. While officials remain ignorantly justified in the closure of almost 50 medical cannabis storefronts, the law firm representing the dispensaries thinks they have a case against the charges and the city. And I agree.

On May 26, TPS raided a number of medical cannabis dispensaries, closing them down, taking their stock and charging their owners and employees. (TPS had even sent out notices to Vapor Lounges that don’t sell any weed.)

Pot advocates, patients with their prescriptions in hand, owners with their strict policies, and employees who never broke the rules were all in disbelief as well.

The operation sparked a conversation about “good” and “bad” dispensaries. Here’s the real tea: there is not a single legal medical marijuana dispensary in Toronto. No matter how sick a person is, it is not legal for them to purchase marijuana in a store. The only legal way to purchase medicinal marijuana is to order it from one of the 27 Health Canada licensed producers (LPs) by mail with a credit card. Weed can be consumed in a variety of ways: edibles, tinctures, teas, and topical creams. The aforementioned are healthier alternatives to smoking marijuana. Well, NONE of these ‘miracle’ options are available under the current Health Canada program.

These are the reasons why dispensaries are needed — inaccessible and expensive government programs have forced individuals to put their necks on the line to open places where patients can learn about the true scope of the medicinal benefits of cannabis and which strains are best for them. But these storefronts are illegal. It’s very ridiculous, unfair and unconstitutional. That’s what the Supreme Court of Canada thought, not just once — but 11 different times.

Patients who were charged for not following the letter of the law when it came to their medical cannabis had their charges dismissed because of such problems with the government program. In the last Supreme Court ruling in February of this year, Judge Michael Phelan called dispensaries the heart of the medical marijuana industry and gave the government six months to come up with a new set of rules and regulations. Since the government has not yet complied with this ruling, Project Claudia dispensaries have exactly the same defence as these previous cases — and I feel confident they will triumph in the same way. They even employed the same lawyer, Kirk Tousaw.

So if the courts, patients, and their advocates all agree that dispensaries are indispensable, why is the government so determined to shut them down after all these years, especially when Canada is on the brink of legalization? Many believe the government attack on dispensaries comes from pressure to do so from some of those Health Canada licensed producers who haven’t satisfied patient need but are frustrated to see their investments take on the challenge of competition. These beliefs take on more weight when you put together the fact that many of these LPs have ties directly to the Liberal government. Chuck Rifici – the co-founder of Tweed, one of the largest and oldest LPs – is also the CFO of the Liberal Party of Canada. Kim Derry – MP and former Toronto Police chief Bill Blair’s long-time friend and ex-deputy chief – has just recently taken a position at THC Meds Ontario Inc. and was even quoted saying he will “certainly give (Bill, who is also the head of the legalization commission) my opinion, whether he asks for it or not.” Something tells me he has already asked for it. These suspect political alliances have patients online calling to #BoycottLPs and recent events in the city were cancelled for fear of being shut down.

The whole thing is a transparent, corrupt nightmare. The resources spent by the city to clog the system with charges that will never stick could have been much better used. Regulations need to be put in place for such licences to exist because the services are needed and they are not going to go away.

Dispensaries are the reason medical marijuana and licensed producers even exist. Their civil disobedience and myriad successful court battles are the reason why the government was forced to create any programs we have at all.

Once we get the first dispensary storefront licences in Toronto, Project Claudia will be remembered as a total bust.

Follow Sarah @flatshanlon

Article source Toronto 24 Hours

Mayor John Tory unapologetic for Toronto police raids on marijuana dispensaries

‘Distribution system is out of control’ says Tory

City Centre Mirror

By David Nickle

Mayor John Tory made no apologies for last week’s raids of medical marijuana dispensaries across the city, in which 90 people were charged with trafficking-related offenses. 

“I have no problem with the legislative course we’re on, decriminalizing marijuana but the distribution system is out of control,” said Tory in his first public comments on the issue following the raids. 

“Everybody knows without exception that the distribution system following legalization will have no resemblance to what they are now.” 

Tory made the comments at an event at the Christie Pits on May 30 — just days after the raids conducted by city bylaw officials and Toronto Police Services.

Those raids came after Mayor Tory wrote to the Licensing and Standards Committee, asking that they contemplate a regulatory regime and also direct enforcement against the more than 100 dispensaries that have opened in Toronto neighbourhoods recently.

The dispensaries opened in anticipation of the legalization of marijuana in 2017. But under city zoning bylaws, they are not allowed to exist anywhere but in industrial zones—where medical marijuana can be legally produced.

Tory said that the raids were an attempt “to make order out of chaos… and I hope that we can keep the order until the legislation in place. The notion that people should just pop up and operate on a completely unregulated basis makes no sense.”

Tory wouldn’t pass judgement on the police’s decision to lay criminal charges against employees of medical marijuana dispensaries.

But he said that while he agrees that those possessing a small amount of marijuana shouldn’t be charged in the interim, trafficking is another matter.

“I don’t think there’s anybody out there who says that trafficking has suddenly become something that’s okay for people today,” he said.

“This is drug trafficking and drug trafficking is not the same as simple possession. Until such time as the law is changed police have an obligation to enforce it.”

Tory also noted that the unregulated stores have no quality control.

“I thought that it might be best to send every message that can possibly be sent, that we can’t just have this in an unregulated situation,” he said.

Article source Inside Toronto

Watch the full rally against the Project Claudia raids in Toronto on Dopechef Media:

Cannabis activism returns to Toronto in a major way with a rally In support of local dispensaries

DOPECHEF MEDIA