Popularity and approval for cannabis continues to grow around the world, with many different jurisdictions like Uruguay, Portugal, Washington, Colorado, and other areas, undertaking the initiative to move in the direction of legalization. However despite the fact that awareness and support of cannabis use continues to grow, there will always remain some who are against it. The response from each city and from each politician is slightly different. One in particular is Canadian politician Joe Cressy who says that medical pot dispensaries should be closed.
“These are – every single one of them – illegal,” he says about the dispensaries and he wants to see authorities spend their resources and time on shutting them down. Cressy himself heads the Toronto Drug Strategy Implementation Panel. Cressy insists that cannabis cannot be distributed through storefront locations and that those who are providing it in the market to meet a need, must first make sure that they are licensed in order to do so.
Cressy thinks that the police should be focusing on enforcing current laws and that they should spend their limited resources and man power on cracking down on sick people using a plant for their own personal treatment method. It is alleged that the police in Toronto are currently operating on a complaint basis and that because of this they may not focus on certain businesses. This is what cannabis advocate Lisa Campbell had to say on this issue, “Within Toronto, the police are operating on a complaints basis. So unless there is a complaint against these businesses, the police may not act. We hope they will not be shutting these businesses down.”
Many Canadians are still impatiently waiting for Trudeau to fully legalize, but there will always remain those who will continue to be worried about the possible danger that could come from allowing these types of exchanges to occur within the community. In spite of this Councillor’s view, the trend is clear with more and more dispensaries constantly popping up in Toronto and across the entire country.