Toronto Moves To Regulate Medical Marijuana Shops

With full marijuana legalization at least a year away in Canada, its largest city is looking to clamp down on the booming illegal dispensary industry within its borders.

Toronto Mayor John Tory sent an open letter this week asking the municipal licensing committee to explore options to regulate the hundreds of marijuana shops that have popped up in the months since the Liberal government came to power with a promise to "legalize, regulate, and restrict" cannabis for recreational use.

Toronto, with a population of around 2.6 million, would become the third city in country to use municipal bylaws to control the stores. Currently, marijuana dispensaries operate in a grey zone, since, for now, the only legal way to purchase cannabis in Canada is with a valid medical prescription from one of the companies licensed by the federal government to distribute the product, either in dried plant or oil form, through the mail.

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