[URBAN NOTE] Two links on the reaction to the Toronto marijuana dispensary raids

[rfmcdonald]

In "Pot convention buzzing over Toronto raids", the Toronto Star's Lisa Wright talks to attendees at a marijuana convention in Toronto who are upset and confused by the recent raids.

Toronto resident Vicki Trueman swears by cannabis oil to treat her chronic migraines and insomnia, as do some of her friends who suffer from seizures and depression.

Though she and her pals have doctors’ prescriptions to access the medicine legally, Trueman said she has no problem with people buying it for recreational use, particularly on the cusp of legalization in Canada.

And, echoing the overwhelming sentiment at the Lift Cannabis Expo Saturday, she said it’s “ridiculous” that Toronto police raided 43 pot dispensaries last Thursday, just two days before Canada’s biggest cannabis convention welcomed thousands of industry people from around the world.

“It makes me very angry. They’re trying to frighten and intimidate people who have run these businesses for years,” said Trueman, who cruised the booths at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Ilya Strashun, who manned the Cannascribe booth to promote the company’s longtime medical marijuana prescription service, agreed the arrests and charges were unnecessary, given the federal Liberal government has pledged to make it legal as early as next spring.

CBC News, meanwhile, shares the reaction of a store owner, originally from British Columbia, taken aback by the raids.

Aamra Hallelujah thought it was a good time to open a marijuana dispensary in Toronto — that is until five officers busted open the door of her shop and placed her and one of her employees under arrest.

Hallelujah's storefront dispensary, Up Cafe, was among 43 such locations raided by Toronto Police on Thursday, when 90 people were arrested and slapped with a total of 186 charges. The raids also saw 269 kilograms of dried marijuana and a large quantity of cookies and other marijuana edibles seized.

It was a terrifying ordeal, Hallelujah said, especially because she now faces criminal charges for what she says is the first time.

"I've never even had a parking ticket," she told CBC News.

Hallelujah, who already has a dispensary in British Columbia, opened her Toronto location in March, not long after Justin Trudeau announced he was ready to move on legalizing the sale of marijuana. But as Canadians await the specifics of that legislation, Hallelujah said she was blindsided by the raids in this city.