Following last week’s police raids at marijuana dispensaries in Toronto, some pot shops are defying the crackdown and are continuing to sell pot for recreational use.

On Thursday, Toronto police targeted and raided 43 dispensaries across the GTA in an investigation dubbed ‘Project Claudia.’ Police said 90 people were arrested and close to 200 charges were laid in connection with the raids, including 71 criminal charges.

Cannabis Culture, a marijuana dispensary located on Queen Street West near Niagara Street, was not one of the shops raided by police on Thursday, but it has decided to continue operating as a pot dispensary.

“Legalization means fair, equal access to Cannabis for all Canadians, healthy or sick,” Cannabis Culture spokesperson and prominent pot activist Jodie Emery said in a tweet addressed to CTV Toronto on Monday. “We refuse to discriminate or force people to be sick before being given the right to access cannabis. Legalization means recreational, or social, use is allowed for all adults – and they will need to be able to access it in an open, honest way.”

Emery said the shop will continue to provide marijuana and marijuana based products to anyone above the age of 19.

“We want to demonstrate what legalization should look like,” Emery continued before thanking those involved in keeping Cannabis Culture operating. “Together we will prove that cannabis shouldn’t be criminalized, and we refuse to be bullied by the police and unjust, harmful, discriminatory law enforcement.”

The co-manager of Cannabis Culture, Erin Goodwin, told CTV Toronto that the store was "fortunate enough" to be undergoing renovations when the raids took place. Cannabis Culture had only officially opened their doors on Friday -- a day after the raids.

"We're lucky that our landlord is on our side," Goodwin said.

"We're prepared that we could be a target. We have minimized our menu items, we have a small selection right now. We do not have edibles on site but we will increase that over time. We have legal representation and we are aware of the risk involved. We're proud of what we're doing."

Goodwin added that employees at Cannabis Culture are required to check for identification proving the customer is above 19 years old before selling any items. 

"The dispensaries that have opened in recent months have been life saving for people. We're happy to be providing that service," she said.

Marijuana dispensaries form coalition

On Monday afternoon, a coalition of marijuana dispensaries asked the Crown and Toronto police to drop all cannabis-related charges that were laid in connection with Project Claudia.

"What I'm calling for is the dropping of the charges immediately," Adolfo Gonzales of the Toronto Dispensary Coalition said Monday. "The City needs to realize that they've made a major mistake, that they're ruining the lives of people who have families that have futures in front of them. They need to realize they have made an unbalanced reponse to this situation and they really need to look toward the municipalities to see how regulation has taken effect in other marketplaces without the need for this kind of action."

Members of the coalition have said they reject the health and safety argument as the reason police raided the dispensaries. They said the pot shops have been operating in an open and transparent way and that they are not criminals for operating these businesses.

Project Claudia

During the raids, police seized huge quantities of marijuana including an array of edibles and paraphernalia.

Prior to the raids, there were approximately 100 marijuana dispensaries operating in the city, according to the website belonging to TO Dispensaries.

The dispensaries that can legally operate in the city are ones that have been approved and hold a special licence authorized by Health Canada. There are currently 18 licensed producers in all of Ontario.

Anyone with authorized prescriptions for medical marijuana has their prescriptions mailed to them by Health Canada.

“It is shocking that people are going to jail, people are getting arrested, people are going to have criminal records,” Marc Emery, a Canadian cannabis activist known as ‘the Prince of Pot’ and the husband of Jodie, told CP24 on Friday. “People are doing all sorts of great things in these dispensaries and we are being punished needlessly.”

 

Police Chief Mark Saunders called the dispensaries a “genuine health concern” due to a lack of regulation.

“These locations cannot tell you where it is coming from, nor what the actual content is,” he said at a news conference on Friday morning.

“Project Claudia is not an attack on the lawful distribution or purchasing of marijuana for medical purposes.”

Saunders described the raids as “low key.”

Back in April, the provincial government announced it would pursue legislation to legalize marijuana by 2017. Pot shop owners have said that this announcement permits them to operate dispensaries within the law.

The Toronto Sun reported that the Canna Clinic, located in Kensington Market, was also open and operating as a dispensary as of Sunday. Canna Clinic was not targeted in last week’s raids.

“It is not fair just to provide access to the sick people, healthy Canadians have a right too,” Jodie told CP24 on Friday following Saunders’ comments. “Legalization of recreational marijuana is on its way so there’s no reason to shut down dispensaries when there’s a much needed service in absence of any actual system that works.”