Pubdate: Tue, 01 Mar 2016
Source: Toronto Life (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Toronto Life
Contact:  http://www.torontolife.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5069
Author: Sarah Fulford
Page: 22

BLAZING A TRAIL

A pot shop just opened up a couple of blocks from the Toronto Life
office on Queen Street near Jarvis. It bills itself as a "dispensary
cafe" and looks like a cross between a hipster coffee shop and a
pharmacy. There are now roughly 50 of these stores in Toronto, at
least six in Kensington Market alone. In some of them, the staffers
wear white lab coats, which gives them a medical vibe, though they
probably know as much about medicine as the average clerk at a
department store beauty counter.

These dispensaries are simply pretending they're part of the
government-sanctioned medical marijuana business. When you inquire
about buying weed at a dispensary, the salesperson will likely ask to
see your prescription. If you say you forgot yours at home, and you
ask nicely for some ganja to dull your pain, you might still leave
with a gram or two. After all, the owners have rent to pay, and they
aren't worried about losing their licence because they don't have a
licence to lose.

Health Canada has licensed only 15 producers in Ontario, and they
don't sell pot in storefronts. People with verified prescriptions from
doctors order their supply online and receive it in the mail. As you
might imagine, the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association
would like the government to shut down the illegal dispensaries that
are chipping away at their profit margins. Cops aren't keen on
arresting dispensary owners, though in January they did raid the Good
Weeds Lounge, a storefront on the Danforth that didn't even bother to
pretend it was a pot pharmacy.

The marijuana business is now operating in the greyest of grey areas,
which is why this issue's cover headline is "Legal(ish)." Our new
prime minister wants to legalize recreational use, but no one knows
how soon that will happen or what the legalized system will look like.
In the meantime, mom-and-pop shops that make THC-laced cookies and
gummies and other edibles have cropped up under the guise of being
medical, and their products are now available for purchase at some
dispensaries. (For reviews of these delicacies by Toronto Life's
intrepid restaurant critic, Mark Pupo, see page 46.) Mr. Kush
Extracts, a company that makes dark chocolate raspberry pot truffles,
among other feel-good delectables, describes itself as a "medical
cannabis extract company." Mary's Brew, a Scarborough-based outfit
that sells weed-infused coffee pods for your Keurig, bills its product
as "a great source of essential nutrients"-a dubious claim, but how
could you check? No doctor is prescribing th! is stuff, and no
regulatory body is monitoring its production.

Of course, there are many legitimately sick people who benefit from
marijuana use. But let's be honest about who's using it for pain
management and who's using it for fun. One Toronto Life employee who
suffers from a chronic medical condition recently went to his GP to
get a prescription for weed. She was skeptical and recommended he try
mindfulness. He really wanted pot, so she referred him to a marijuana
clinic. The pot-friendly doctor there examined him, confirmed his
medical condition and advised that it could be treated with a THC-free
cannabis extract. Then he looked at the Toronto Life staffer with a
knowing twinkle in his eye and said: "But that wouldn't be much fun on
a Netflix-and-chill night, would it?" He wrote the prescription.
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MAP posted-by: Matt