The Toronto Dispensary had a quiet opening in the neighbourhood last February,

It now provides medicinal marijuana to more than 1,000 patients for home consumption.

Along with glass canisters containing several varities of weed, three LCD screens on the wall list what’s on the menu including marijuana-infused fudge, cake pops and fizzy soft-drinks.

Before you get to the main showroom, you walk through the reception area with its calming grey walls where patients present their prescription and undergo an interview and a lounge area where family members of patients can watch TV or play Xbox - and in some cases, learn how to roll joints.

Despite the relaxed vibe, the storefront is under the watchful eye of eight CCTV cameras that capture every move and feed into a large Samsung flatscreen TV in the dispensary area.

The dispensary operates mainly by word-of-mouth and through positive reviews on Leafly, an online directory of dispensary locations.

Operations manager Marina - who wouldn’t provide her last name - confirmed she files her taxes under a registered business number.

“People don’t look at dispensaries as an evil anymore,” said Marina, who has a business administration background. “They recognize that there’s a service we’re providing. As the stigma goes down, the number of locations goes up. They’re still popping up and the market can still absorb it. There’s demand. None of them are slow.”

She said many landlords are “sympathetic to our cause” and stressed they are conducting their business “by the book.

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” she said.

She said dispensaries supply patients who need it with quick access instead of waiting days to get their shipment from a licensed producer by mail and also provides them with more face-to-face information on the pot they’re receiving.

“We have then have a conversation with them of what they’re looking for and what they’re trying to achieve,” she said. “I really think the system right now is broken for the patients.”

The dispensary says it works with growers from British Columbia who were licensed under the old Health Canada regime — The Marihuana Medical Access Regulations — that changed April 1, 2014.

In the new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, the feds no longer license users or distribute marijuana, but only oversee licensed producers. Still, those who were grandfathered in the old system are still allowed to grow their own plants after a federal court judge ruling that same year.