The raids on Malvern gang members in 2004, described then as the largest anti-gang operation in Toronto history, saw 65 arrests. Of course, the same question about Thursday’s massive co-ordinated raids on 43 unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries — the subject of the news conference — was also left without a satisfying answer. This was clearly a massive deployment of police resources, executing 43 near-simultaneous raids. As the government prepares to bring in a new regime for how legal marijuana is regulated, pot store owners want to stake their claim to a business model to ensure they have a chance of being part of the new regime. And indeed, Chief Saunders did not claim any public safety justification for the raids, instead citing the possible health risk of products with unknown strength, in which the THC level can vary.

Source: thestar May 28, 2016 15:56 UTC