Marijuana dispensary owners, clerks and landlords got their first day in court Wednesday, with some calling it a waste of time and money as Canada moves toward full pot legalization.

More than a dozen people appeared at Old City Hall on charges of contravening Toronto’s zoning bylaw that states only federal licensed marijuana distributors, who mail or courier pot, can operate — and only in industrial parts of Toronto.

Most of the accused received disclosure of the case against them and a date to return for trial in August on the charges, which carry a maximum fine of $25,000 for individuals and $50,000 for corporations.

In the May 26 raids by Toronto police and city licensing staff, many of the 90 people arrested were also hit with more serious Criminal Code drug trafficking charges.

“I think it’s kind of ridiculous and funny, actually,” Mercedes Carter, 26, who works at a Danforth Ave. dispensary, said of the zoning charges after appearing in court.

“We don’t know where it’s going to go from here, if the dispensaries are going to be allowed to stay open or (pot sales) will be monopolized by the (federally) licensed producers.”

Carter said she and a colleague are not facing criminal trafficking charges — and possible jail time — because they suspected a raid was coming and stopped stocking actual marijuana a week before police swooped in.

The landlord of a shop near Roncesvalles Ave. and Queen St. W. told Justice of the Peace Felicitas Campasano she would return for trial Aug. 10.

Outside court the landlord, who gave her name as Nancy, said she is hoping uncertainty over the legality of the federal government’s medical marijuana program will result in her not being convicted of the zoning charge.

“There’s no foot traffic” around the building she owns, she said, adding that one past tenant went bankrupt.

“These (marijuana) guys pay. It’s very difficult to rent in that area. I thought it (storefront medical marijuana distribution) was legal.”

Kendra Stanyon, a lawyer representing several of the people charged, said she was surprised city licensing went after some minimum-wage clerks with zoning charges.

“You have employees caught in the crosshairs here; it's not just owners, and they’re facing summonses with potential $25,000 fines,” she said.

Those facing criminal charges will have their first appearances in court next month.

Marijuana shops, some demanding a prescription and others not, started spreading across Toronto months ago.

They flourished as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to legalize marijuana, with strict regulations, in 2017. Adding to the legal haze, a federal court judge in B.C. struck down a ban on medical-marijuana patients growing their own plants, giving Ottawa until August to bring its medical-marijuana law in line with the Charter.

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The raids came after some residents and politicians voiced concern over the concentration of pot shops in some areas.

Some marijuana dispensaries continue to operate in Toronto. The city’s licensing department says its crackdown is not over and more businesses could be charged.