A London pot shop that’s getting booted from its downtown digs by its landlord has reopened with a secretive new twist.

The Chronic Hub on Dundas Street — one of five dispensaries raided during a police crackdown last month — is now delivering marijuana and other cannabis products to customers’ homes.

The delivery-only business model has exploded in Canadian cities amid police crackdowns on illegal dispensaries, says one industry observer.

“It’s more riskier to be out in the open, it’s more riskier to have a storefront,” said Jenna Valleriani, a University of Toronto PhD candidate studying Canada’s marijuana market.

The Chronic Hub stopped selling product at its downtown location after police raided it March 2, but the store recently reopened to re-register clients and inform them of the new plan.

Under the system, customers place an order at the Dundas Street shop and have it delivered the same day. A driver calls customers shortly before making the delivery and collects payment, a source said.

“They’re only taking orders from past members,” the source said.

Members are required to sign a revised code-of-conduct form saying they acknowledge that marijuana is an illegal substance, the source added.

The Chronic Hub had previously assured its customers on social media sites that it would reopen following the police raid that resulted in charges against chief executive Charles Colvin.

Police laid a combined 24 drug-trafficking charges against eight people and seized $170,000 worth of marijuana products in last month’s raids.

City tax records show Rosanna Stumpo-Bal owns the building at 119 Dundas St. that houses the Chronic Hub.

Stumpo-Bal, who didn’t respond to a Free Press interview request, is in the process of evicting the dispensary, sources said.

It’s unclear how the Chronic Hub will take orders if they are evicted.

The head of Downtown London wasn’t happy when the illegal pot shop opened in the core last December.

Janette MacDonald declined to comment Tuesday on the Chronic Hub, calling it a legal matter, but repeated her previous claim that a marijuana dispensary isn’t a good fit for Dundas Street.

“Dundas Place is not the right place for a business like this,” MacDonald said, referring to the four-block stretch that’s going to be turned into a pedestrian-first flex street under an approved $15.9-million plan.

The Chronic Hub is the fourth raided London dispensary to reopen in defiance of federal legislation. Only one of the five raided shops, Herbal Alternatives on Hamilton Road, remains closed.

A police spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday.

Ottawa last week introduced its long-awaited legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational use, a vow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made during the 2015 election campaign.

Under the proposal, adults could possess up to 30 grams of cannabis. They could either buy it from a provincially approved retailer or grow as many as four pot plants.

Provinces would decide how pot is sold and distributed, leaving the future of illegal dispensaries uncertain.

Police in Toronto, where there was once more than 100 pot shops, have continued to raid the businesses in recent months.

Toronto bylaw officials also have gone after landlords renting space to dispensaries, a strategy that hasn’t been used in London.

Though most dispensaries initially responded to the crackdowns by reopening, many have been shuttered by repeated raids and threats of legal action from landlords.

“Enforcement has never been a really good tool to use when it comes to dispensaries,” Valleriani said. “But at the same time . . . if (police) are persistent, it seems to work.”

In London, hundreds of marijuana activists are expected to gather Thursday at Victoria Park for a 420 rally, an annual celebration of cannabis culture. Last year marked the first time in more than half a decade that police let demonstrators smoke pot openly without arresting them.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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