Pubdate: Wed, 27 Sep 2017
Source: London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 The London Free Press
Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/letters
Website: http://www.lfpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author: Dale Carruthers
Page: A5

RAIDED POT SHOP OPEN AGAIN

Less than a week after London police raided it, a downtown marijuana
dispensary is back in business.

The London Relief Centre was serving customers again Tuesday, six days
after police swooped in on the Richmond Row pot shop, arresting five
staffers and seizing nearly $50,000 worth of cannabis products and
$15,000 cash.

A police spokesperson declined comment on the reopening, but Chief
John Pare had said last Wednesday's raid on the dispensary - one of
five operating in London - was prompted by citizen complaints, not
because it was selling marijuana to anyone older than 19.

Located at 691 Richmond St., the shop is Southwestern Ontario's only
so-called 19-plus dispensary, where clients aren't required to have a
valid pot prescription, as required by the city's other pot shops.

"Nothing has changed. It's exactly the same," a customer, who didn't
want to be identified, said Tuesday.

Police across Canada have waged a whack-a-mole-style battle with
unsanctioned pot shops since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who
campaigned on a vow to legalize recreational pot use, took office in
2015.

Police have since launched 227 raids on dispensaries, only to see many
re-open, a tracking website says. In a March crackdown on five
dispensaries in London, police charged eight people and seized
$170,000 in cannabis products. Three of the raided pot shops have
since reopened.

Ontario this month announced its plan to sell legal pot in 50
standalone LCBO operations and online once the federal Liberals make
good on their vow to legalize recreational marijuana use by July 1,
2018.
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MAP posted-by: Matt