Ensuring recreational marijuana sales are restricted to the LCBO is a key priority for Ontario as the legalization of weed looms, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday at Queen’s Park, Wynne lamented that “we’re in a grey area right now,” which has enabled more than 100 illegal weed stores to open in Toronto in recent weeks.

“We literally don’t have that legal framework from the federal government. I feel very strongly that there needs to be control and regulation of marijuana,” said the premier, who added that it is up to the city to tackle the “dispensaries.”

“In the interim, I have to say to you that it really . . . does fall to the municipalities and their bylaws,” she said.

As first revealed by the Star on Saturday, the provincial government has begun preparing for legalized marijuana sales by striking a working group of bureaucrats from the ministries of finance, health and the attorney general.

That task force is looking at how to limit recreational marijuana retailing to the government’s 650-outlet Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which has a monopoly on the sale of spirits in the province.

“We have the LCBO in place (and) I think that we’ve demonstrated that that kind of regulation is efficient and is effective,” Wynne said.

“So I will certainly be looking from the working group, the work that we’re doing here provincially . . . to bring that to the table as the federal government puts their law in place,” she said.

“And I will certainly be advocating with the federal government that we have that kind of regulation in place.”

Despite a recent crackdown by Toronto police, scores of illegal “dispensaries” are openly operating on major thoroughfares such as Queen, Dundas and College Sts.

Medicinal marijuana is already legal, but only with a prescription from a medical doctor and supplied by one of 31 federally licensed producers who must ship the Health Canada-inspected cannabis via registered mail.

It is against the law for a licensed producer to sell directly to the public through a dispensary.

Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, now the Liberal MP for Scarborough Southwest, is at work updating Canada’s cannabis laws at the behest of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Blair has expressed concern about the dispensaries, and noted the LCBO is effective at keeping alcohol out of the hands of underage consumers.

Genevieve Tomney, a spokeswoman for the LCBO, said the Crown corporation “is paying close attention as the federal government undertakes to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana in Canada.”

“We would take our direction from the provincial government when it comes to any role LCBO may have in retailing cannabis,” Tomney said Tuesday.

“At this time, we are actively reviewing publicly available information that may be useful to us, should LCBO be given this added responsibility.”

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Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents LCBO workers, has repeatedly emphasized that his members are best equipped to sell marijuana safely.

Thomas has pointed out the LCBO has well-trained unionized staff in its stores and secure warehouses.