Toronto police and drug squad raid marijuana dispensaries|X-post Canada

[Saviolo]

2. It's a weird, anticipatory time in Canada

Weed isn't legal here, yet. Trudeau is aiming to get a federal decriminalization for spring 2017, but right now, it's only license holders that can obtain legally. But in anticipation of all of the laws changing (potentially) next year, dispensaries have started springing up like, well... like weeds!

I live in an old neighbourhood of Toronto called Kensington Market. Originally (in the 20's) a strongly Jewish enclave. Now it is a mix of old Jewish families, hipsters, Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant communities (it borders on one of Toronto's Chinatowns), and Mexican shop owners. In the past four months or so, about 10 small businesses have shuttered and have transformed into dispensaries. Some started well before that (like the CannaWide in the article), but about 8 have opened in the last 3 months. There's no way that cramming all of those identical businesses into that tiny an area is sustainable. I'm not surprised that many of them are trying to sell weed to leisure users and not just license-holders.

Of course, that's just the thing the police are looking for in the pre-legalization period.