[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto pot outlets ordered to shutter in 3 days"

[rfmcdonald]

This news, reported by the Toronto Star's Betsy Powell among others, is--broadly speaking--good. I like the idea of marijuana dispensaries, but I also like the idea of regulating business.

The city is warning Toronto landlords they have three days to shut down the retail marijuana storefronts operating on their premises or potentially face stiff fines for bylaw zoning violations.

“We’re giving property owners an opportunity to remedy the issue first,” Tracey Cook, executive director of the city’s licensing division, said Thursday. The city’s goal “is not just to go out and hammer people,” it’s to ensure property owners comply with the rules, she said.

Toronto police and bylaw enforcement officers delivered 20 notices to property owners on Wednesday and continue to serve warnings to other landlords with pot shop tenants. Cook estimated there are at least 75 marijuana dispensaries currently operating in Toronto.

They are all contravening bylaws because only federally licensed marijuana growers in industrial areas of the city can legally produce pot for medical patients, she said.

“The fact of the matter is the law is the law as it is written today and it is our responsibility to enforce it appropriately.” The federal government’s plan to legalize pot is still months away.