Last week the well documented raids on dispensaries, known as Project Claudia, in Toronto took place, with the police cracking down on over 100 separate dispensaries. The police confiscated inventory and cash, charged employees and shop owners, and ordered the closing of all the dispensaries. One of the places that was targeted turned out to be a completely legal doctor’s office.
The clinic, named Canadian Cannabis Clinics, received three letters, one of which was from police and the other two from the licensing and standards department of the city telling them that they clinic was breaking the law. The letter from the police stated “Please be advised that persons identified as participants in the aforementioned unlawful activities will be subject to enforcement, which may include the laying of charges under the Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.”
Ronan Levy is the director of the clinic, and he was shocked to see these letters arrive. He says that “When you try and do everything the proper way, try to be buckled up… and you still get caught up into a mess, you’re still kind of surprised. Since the clinic keeps no cannabis at all in the locations, Levy says the only thing that could have been confiscated was “a whole bunch of paperwork, some medical beds, a water cooler.”
Levy says that he spent a lot of time last Thursday and Friday explaining to police that his operation was fully legal and that there was no cannabis or cannabis products being sold there. Detective Steve Watts called Levy to explain that the front line police officers might not have understood the exact differences between the dispensaries and the clinics. The clinic wasn’t raided after all, but the letters sent to the location seem to have been inaccurate.