Toronto starts to crack down on marijuana dispensaries

While the legalization of marijuana isn’t expected to be in place until 2017, that timeline hasn’t stopped hundreds of eager entrepreneurs around the country from setting up shop.

In Toronto’s Kensington Market, many dispensaries have lineups out the door on any given day. The crowds range in age, ethnicity and economic background, despite all wanting the same thing: pot.

Toronto is the latest city to attempt to set some restrictions on the so-called Wild West of the dispensary industry, after Mayor John Tory issued a letter to the members of the Licensing and Standards Committee, asking for a review of a regulatory framework for dispensaries.

On Monday, the committee sent letters to a number of landlords of dispensaries and compassion clubs, stating that it was the property owner’s responsibility to ensure that no illegal activity takes place on their premises or else face a $50,000 fine per day.

Currently, there are 105 storefront dispensaries in Toronto, with another 20 scheduled to open by month’s end.

By contrast, there are 18 producers in Ontario licensed by Health Canada and 13 other licensed producers in the rest of Canada. No storefront dispensary is currently licensed by Health Canada. In order to be eligible for medical marijuana through a licensed facility, a patient must provide medical document from a health care provider.

Harrison Jordan works with The Big Toke, a consulting firm for cannabis businesses.

“There’s a lot of entrepreneurs out there who want to get a slice of the pie and nobody really knows what the federal regulations are going to look like,” he tells Yahoo Canada News. “We don’t know if it’s going to include craft cannabis – smaller production, those who produce outside of licensed producers – or not.”

He says licensed producers currently have to be “well capitalized” with at least $5-$10-million to get the facility up and running.

“We hope going forward, there would be a role for some of the smaller companies to have a seat at the table,” he says.

The City of Vancouver has been dealing with dispensaries as a grey zone — while not technically legal, some are allowed to operate if they obtain a license for a yearly fee of $30,000 and follow guidelines that keep them away from schools, community centres and other dispensaries. Police in that city have begun ticketing unlicensed dispensaries with a $250 fine.

Vancouver-based marijuana activist Jodie Emery says cracking down on dispensaries means cracking down on the Canadian economy since they create jobs and are supplying a large demand.

“We’re going to have to push back and demand the government justify the regulations when they’re happy to make alcohol available in front of children…the hypocrisy is unbearable,” she says.

Jordan calls Toronto’s attempt at targeting dispensaries “disheartening.” He suspects going forward, some landlords will attempt to evict dispensaries, while other business owners will likely take the issue to trial.

One Toronto dispensary owner declined to go on record but told Yahoo Canada News that “for the time being until further notice we’re going to continue to operative as we have.”

Regardless of what happens, Jordan wishes that there will be a unified front.

“I think that this is going to play out in the courts and the courts of public opinion,” he says. “Whatever enforcement action is taken, it will be before a court.”