Ontario premier Doug Ford’s friend Ron Taverner, a former Toronto Police Service superintendent, was offered a position created for him in the Ontario Cannabis Store. He turned the job down and applied for the commissionership of the Ontario Provincial Police, which he got, before being forced to step down due to accusations of nepotism. The job created for him at Ontario Cannabis Store was never filled.
iPolitics
- Doug Ford’s chief of staff Dean French pushed police departments across Ontario to raid illicit dispensaries in the days and weeks after legalization, demanding daily reports on the number of stores shut down and the number of owners charged. French also expressed “concerns” about how justices-of-the-peace were ruling on cannabis-related issues.
Globe and Mail—Paywall
Quick Hits
- A head-shop owner in Welland, Ontario who was raided by police, claims he was selling no products containing cannabinoids, and therefore was committing no crime.
GrowthOp - A 65-year-old Niagara man arrested in 2016 for growing 1,200 plants that he said were MED solely intended to meet his and his sister’s chronic-pain needs will spend 90 days in jail.
Niagara This Week - Industry experts say consumers moving to the legal system from the illicit market have been forced to take a cut in the amount of information available about cannabis. Dispensaries often provide extensive information about potential effects and the medical applications of different cultivars, but REC retailers are not allowed to do the same, even as consumers shop for cannabis based on desired effects.
The Star - In provinces that allow home growing, the four-plant limit applies to any plants of the genus Cannabis, even hemp. The Leaf
