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Tory joins Premier Kathleen Wynne in wringing his hands. She recently told the Toronto Star she worried organized crime might simply abandon the street trade and organize itself into storefront businesses.

“That’s why I put forward the notion of (selling pot at) the LCBO,” she said.

Tory is asking his good friends on the Licensing and Standards Committee to direct staff to “recommend steps to address concerns, including the feasibility of licensing marijuana dispensaries” — and to “employ, in conjunction with the Toronto Police Service, whatever enforcement mechanisms are currently available … to address the health and safety concerns of neighbours and businesses in the communities (affected).”

Kensington Market, in particular, is reportedly reaching levels of marijuana saturation that are concerning even to its famously liberal population. There could be zoning bylaw infractions. Tory’s letter says he’s worried in particular about “access by minors.” And recreational marijuana is, after all, still illegal.

I’m all for legalizing marijuana, and tactically I think these grey-at-the-lightest-market dispensaries are doing a valuable service. Whenever I see someone on Twitter ask why we’re still prosecuting people for marijuana possession when we know it will soon be legal, I marvel at the faith they have in the Liberal government to follow through on its election promise. It would be so much easier for it not to. But the more people flout the law with impunity in this limbo period, the harder it becomes for the Liberals to put the genie back in the bottle.