2017
For 17 months, Toronto police and bylaw officers have been cracking down on illegal pot dispensaries, raiding more than 200 locations, laying hundreds of criminal charges and issuing thousands of dollars in fines. Their attack has been relentless, yet the city still has an estimated 65 shops open for business at any given time.
The campaign, codenamed Project Claudia, began with a headline-grabbing first round of raids in May, 2016, and has now cost millions of dollars in police, staff and court time.
Some storefronts simply reopen within weeks or even days of a raid. Some move – or simply move their business online. One Toronto neighbourhood was blanketed this week with slick pamphlets for a marijuana service modelled on the city's food-delivery companies.
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Many of the criminal charges laid in the initial raids have been dropped or stayed. Some of the accused agreed to peace bonds that place restrictions on them, including shutting down their operations, to avoid facing charges. Other dispensary owners have launched concerted legal battles, including a constitutional challenge that got under way in a Toronto courtroom on Thursday.
But with a chain of provincially controlled pot stores modelled on the LCBO monopoly to start opening next summer, when recreational use of the drug is expected to be legalized across Canada, the game of whack-a-mole being played with illegal storefront dispensaries is expected to intensify, prompting questions about whether it can or should be won – and who should pay for it.
"It's been frustrating," Mayor John Tory said. He supported the crackdown – which is the most aggressive in the country and runs counter to approaches taken by police forces in the West – as a necessary move in the face of complaints about the rapid spread of dispensaries across town. "The question you have to ask yourself is: Is it important, as a matter of principle, that you should enforce the laws so that people don't just think they can go out and flagrantly break the law as it presently exists?"
In a recent meeting with other Greater Toronto Area mayors and Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mr. Tory says he made it clear that he wants the province to pick up the tab for the enforcement campaign, which is currently being paid for by the city.
While police could not provide a cost estimate for their raids, the city's head of investigations, Mark Sraga, estimates his bylaw-enforcement department alone has spent at least $1-million on the enforcement campaign.
Six officers have worked full-time to lay 812 charges for zoning violations or other bylaw infractions.
Mr. Sraga said city and provincial officials are talking about whether the province should take over enforcement, either through the Ontario Provincial Police or a new agency. "That remains to be seen on who's going to do enforcement on the illegal storefronts on a go-forward basis," he said. "Will it be the municipalities? Or will it be the provincial level? Those decisions have not been made yet."
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The mayor said no such talk had come up at the political level and that enforcement was still expected to be left in the hands of local police and bylaw officials.
Ontario Attorney-General Yasir Naqvi was unavailable for an interview. His office released a statement on Thursday amid meetings this week on cannabis laws with law enforcement, public-health officials, federal representatives and First Nations leaders. He did not promise to reimburse municipalities or take over efforts to wipe out illegal dispensaries. But the statement does say the government hopes to determine what support it can provide "where gaps may exist" in enforcement.
"We remain committed to working with our partners to ensure that illegal cannabis retail stores, such as dispensaries, are shut down as quickly as possible," it said.
Some critics say that, given the market conditions, it is unrealistic to expect the campaign to wipe out Toronto's dispensaries. Just 40 of Ontario's legal pot outlets are expected to be open across the province by next summer. Online distribution will also be available at that time. By 2020, Ontario expects to have 150 stand-alone stores, spread across the province. Many say this means a large number of dispensaries will keep operating in the near future.
For 17 months, Toronto police and bylaw officers have been cracking down on illegal pot dispensaries, raiding more than 200 locations, laying hundreds of criminal charges and issuing thousands of dollars in fines. Their attack has been relentless, yet the city still has an estimated 65 shops open for business at any given time.
The campaign, codenamed Project Claudia, began with a headline-grabbing first round of raids in May, 2016, and has now cost millions of dollars in police, staff and court time.
Some storefronts simply reopen within weeks or even days of a raid. Some move – or simply move their business online. One Toronto neighbourhood was blanketed this week with slick pamphlets for a marijuana service modelled on the city's food-delivery companies.
Story continues below advertisement
Many of the criminal charges laid in the initial raids have been dropped or stayed. Some of the accused agreed to peace bonds that place restrictions on them, including shutting down their operations, to avoid facing charges. Other dispensary owners have launched concerted legal battles, including a constitutional challenge that got under way in a Toronto courtroom on Thursday.
But with a chain of provincially controlled pot stores modelled on the LCBO monopoly to start opening next summer, when recreational use of the drug is expected to be legalized across Canada, the game of whack-a-mole being played with illegal storefront dispensaries is expected to intensify, prompting questions about whether it can or should be won – and who should pay for it.
"It's been frustrating," Mayor John Tory said. He supported the crackdown – which is the most aggressive in the country and runs counter to approaches taken by police forces in the West – as a necessary move in the face of complaints about the rapid spread of dispensaries across town. "The question you have to ask yourself is: Is it important, as a matter of principle, that you should enforce the laws so that people don't just think they can go out and flagrantly break the law as it presently exists?"
In a recent meeting with other Greater Toronto Area mayors and Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mr. Tory says he made it clear that he wants the province to pick up the tab for the enforcement campaign, which is currently being paid for by the city.
While police could not provide a cost estimate for their raids, the city's head of investigations, Mark Sraga, estimates his bylaw-enforcement department alone has spent at least $1-million on the enforcement campaign.
Six officers have worked full-time to lay 812 charges for zoning violations or other bylaw infractions.
Mr. Sraga said city and provincial officials are talking about whether the province should take over enforcement, either through the Ontario Provincial Police or a new agency. "That remains to be seen on who's going to do enforcement on the illegal storefronts on a go-forward basis," he said. "Will it be the municipalities? Or will it be the provincial level? Those decisions have not been made yet."
Story continues below advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
The mayor said no such talk had come up at the political level and that enforcement was still expected to be left in the hands of local police and bylaw officials.
Ontario Attorney-General Yasir Naqvi was unavailable for an interview. His office released a statement on Thursday amid meetings this week on cannabis laws with law enforcement, public-health officials, federal representatives and First Nations leaders. He did not promise to reimburse municipalities or take over efforts to wipe out illegal dispensaries. But the statement does say the government hopes to determine what support it can provide "where gaps may exist" in enforcement.
"We remain committed to working with our partners to ensure that illegal cannabis retail stores, such as dispensaries, are shut down as quickly as possible," it said.
Some critics say that, given the market conditions, it is unrealistic to expect the campaign to wipe out Toronto's dispensaries. Just 40 of Ontario's legal pot outlets are expected to be open across the province by next summer. Online distribution will also be available at that time. By 2020, Ontario expects to have 150 stand-alone stores, spread across the province. Many say this means a large number of dispensaries will keep operating in the near future.