With legislation to legalize marijuana expected in the spring, a new player has emerged on London’s increasingly crowded pot-dispensary scene.

The Chronic Hub Social Club has opened at 119 Dundas St., the first marijuana dispensary to set up shop in the city’s core.

The new pot shop brings London’s dispensary count to six, four of them popping up after Justin Trudeau pledged in the 2015 election campaign to legalize marijuana.

“It’s just another reason to come downtown,” said Charles Colvin, chief executive of the Chronic Hub. “That’s what you want in your downtown core, is for people to be down there.”

But the head of Downtown London isn’t applauding the arrival of a new tenant in the former Jambalaya restaurant.

“If it’s legalized then they have every right to be there. Is it the kind of business we choose for Dundas Street? Absolutely not,” Janette MacDonald said of the dispensary.

“It’s going to be our flex street. We’re looking for that to be populated with restaurants and cafes.”

The Chronic Hub is mirroring the approach of its sister store in Vancouver, billing itself as a non-profit compassion club that sells only to members approved during an in-house Skype consultation with a medical professional or who already have a prescription for medical marijuana.

Colvin, 28, said he’d been eyeing setting up shop in London for the past year but was waiting to see how things played out with authorities first.

When Tasty Budd’s dispensary held a high-profile opening in the summer, officers descended on the Wharncliffe Road business days later, charging the franchisee and an employee with drug trafficking.

But the defiant dispensary reopened days later, rebranding itself as a low-key compassion club, and has remained in business.

The Canada-wide battle between dispensaries and law enforcement agencies is playing out in cities from Vancouver to Halifax. The shops are illegal under a federal law that prohibits the sale of medical marijuana to a few dozen government-approved producers.

But dispensary operators cite a 2014 federal court decision that said forcing patients to buy their prescription pot from approved sellers violates their constitutional rights.

Trying to clear the confusion critics say he created, Trudeau said in December that municipalities should “enforce the law” when it comes to illegal storefront dispensaries.

London police, however, appear to be turning a blind eye to the growing number of pot shops.

Colvin, who didn’t consult with police before opening, said foot patrol officers pass by his store regularly.

“They walk by every day,” he said just minutes before a pair of officers passed by.

Police weren’t available to speak about dispensaries Monday.

Open seven days a week, the Chronic Hub sells marijuana, hash, oil, THC concentrates and cannabidiol hemp oils. The store doesn’t carry THC-infused edibles, a move aimed at avoiding the ire of public health officials.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com