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Rules are rules, the judge said.

Ontario Court Justice Mark Poland said illegal marijuana dispensaries that flouted new marijuana retail laws in 2018 were akin to someone selling booze on their own just because they don’t want to go to the LCBO.

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Just because you might not like the rules, “you can’t simply fire up a still and sell from your garage,” Poland said when assessing the cases against 28 people described as retail clerks at illegal London marijuana dispensaries.

All 28 pleaded guilty in the fall under the Cannabis Act to possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling it.

What makes the crimes serious, he said, is that those who worked in the illegal storefronts — including the London Relief Centre on Richmond Street and Healing Health on Wonderland Road — knew the law had changed regarding the sale of marijuana when it was decriminalized on Oct. 17, 2018.

At the time the stores were raided by police, the new provincial retail laws stipulated adults could buy small quantities of recreational marijuana only from a government-run mail delivery service.