Toronto police say "genuine" health concerns and a "significant" number of community complaints prompted officers to raid dozens of marijuana dispensaries across the city.
Police Chief Mark Saunders says 90 people have been arrested and 186 charges laid after officers — accompanied by city municipal licencing and standards officials — executed search warrants at 43 storefront pot shops on Thursday.
He says about 270 kilograms of dried cannabis as well as hundreds of kilograms of pot-laced food products such as chocolate, brownies and candies were seized during the raid.
The operation — dubbed Project Claudia — angered some Torontonians, who took to social media to denounce it as a waste of police resources.
Some also questioned the timing of the move just months after the federal government announced it will introduce legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana next spring.
Justin Trudeau's Liberal government says a legal marijuana regime will keep pot out of the hands of children and deny criminals the profits of illicit dealing.
Saunders says that since March, the number of marijuana dispensaries has doubled in the city — with half of the facilities investigated by police located within 300 metres of schools.
Dozens of dispensary owners and pot activists protested outside the police headquarters where Saunders was holding a news conference.
Marc Emery — Canada's self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" who served five years in a U.S. prison for selling marijuana seeds from Canada to American customers — was leading the protest, holding a sign that read "Dispensaries are indispensable."
