

Chris Fox, CP24.com





Mayor John Tory is calling on city staff to use “whatever enforcement mechanisms” they can to crack down on the growing number of marijuana dispensaries that are “operating unlawfully” in Toronto.

In an open letter sent to Municipal Licensing and Standards Executive Director Tracey Cook on Thursday, Tory said he will ask the licensing and standards committee to support a “review of the current operations of marijuana dispensaries” but in the meantime, Tory said he wants Cook to work with the Toronto Police Service to enforce current laws prohibiting the businesses from operating.

According to the website TO Dispensaries, there are currently about 100 marijuana dispensaries operating in the city.

This despite the fact that only licensed producers authorized by Health Canada are legally able to sell marijuana in Canada. In Ontario, there are currently just 18 licensed producers.

“We can’t just have medical marijuana dispensaries popping up on every street corner in a completely unregulated manner pending a change in the law,” Tory told reporters following a film industry event on Thursday. “The law has not changed yet and I recognize the fact and in fact support that it is going to change. But in the meantime we can’t have the wild west of medical marijuana distribution.”

On April 20, Ottawa said it would seek to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana in 2017 and since that point many have observed a rise in the number in marijuana dispensaries operating.

In his letter to Cook, Tory said that the speed at which the dispensaries are opening and the concentration of them in some areas of the city is “alarming.”

Though Tory said that the city respects the federal government’s decision, he said the city has a responsibility to not ignore the rising number of illegal dispensaries and instead must offer “leadership on the issue.”

“Left unaddressed, the number of these dispensaries will only increase. This proliferation brings with it potential health risks for individuals who patronize dispensaries where the substance for sale is completely unregulated,” Tory wrote in his letter. “It also affects surrounding businesses and communities who have valid concerns that must be addressed – in particular, concerns about access by minors.”

Tory’s letter to Cook comes less than a week after he made a surprise visit to a dispensary in Kensington Market to see the business for himself and question staff about its operations.

Following that visit, Tory told reporters that Toronto “can't just sit back and have nobody take any action.” On Thursday, Tory took it one step further, telling reporters that the number of marijuana dispensaries in Toronto may already be out of control.

“We must regulate and license the location and number of these so it doesn’t get beyond control; which it may already be judged on the number of these that have popped up in really the last number of weeks,” he said.

In his letter to Cook, Tory says he wants the report on marijuana dispensary regulations completed by June.

“I think there is some urgency to this,” he said.