Pubdate: Thu, 07 Dec 2017
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Joe Warmington
Page: A12

KENSINGTON DISPENSARY RAIDED

Pot shop weeded out

Another one has gone up in smoke.

And just like with the other potshop closures, it appeared as though
the void, at least in part, was immediately filled by street drug dealers.

"Actually, there are four or five guys," said one retailer in the
Kensington Market area.

On Wednesday morning after the raid that shut down The Toronto
Dispensary at 33 Kensington Ave., you could see street dealers lurking
nearby as people who hadn't yet heard the news were looking for their
buzz.

The news was that Toronto Police 14 Division officers exercised a
warrant to seize the property at the shop and arrest the people running it.

Police said they took away 127.67 grams of shatter, 3.2 kilos of loose
marijuana, 20.23 kilos of marijuana-derived products and $7,078
Canadian currency.

Charged with two counts of possession of a substance for the purpose
of trafficking are Toronto residents Jessica Kelley-Lee Walsh, 26,
Jahmal Rigby-Winter, 25, Gina ClarkKerur, 24, Daniel Sewell, 22 and
James Clifton Jones, 40.

"It's absurd to waste tax dollars trying to suppress a successful and
popular business model that creates jobs, tax revenue and community
culture," said pot activist Jodie Emery.

Those charged will all be at Old City Hall court on Jan.
16.

If this goes to trial, it's likely it would come after July 1, when
the sale of recreational marijuana will become legal.

For the government, that is. "Most of the prohibitionists are now on
the money train," said Stephen Clark, who's the manager of HotBox
Homegrown Hydroponics around the corner on Augusta Ave.

Since a lot of them are former police leaders, it doesn't come as a
surprise the police are enforcing the laws to the letter right now.
But they aren't stopping marijuana sales.

"We will just get it somewhere else," said one of the guys who showed
up for a purchase at 33 Kensington.

It just means the guy who sells it in the street is picking up the
market.

"It's distressing to see these costly, harmful raids resulting in
peaceful people being harmed by arrest, and thousands of decent
citizens being denied cannabis access," Emery said Wednesday.
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MAP posted-by: Matt