The Toronto Police Service’s recent crackdown on 45 pot dispensaries, many of which are just steps from the Annex, signals the City of Toronto’s frustration with the federal government’s lack of progress on the decriminalization of marijuana, as well as the need for a framework regulating the production, distribution, and sale of the green bud. Although a Liberal campaign promise to amend the decriminalization of pot is expected to be realized in 2017, entrepreneurs have already begun to establish a thriving retail market.  Read more

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The Comfort Zone has filed a $23-million lawsuit against the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and former police chief Bill Blair, alleging the parties abused their powers to put the Spadina Avenue after-hours club out of business. After discovering that a 26-year-old man had been seen at the club just hours before his death as a result of a drug overdose, the TPS launched Project White Rabbit, an undercover raid that resulted in the seizure of $35,000 and various drugs valued at $33,000, as well as charges against 33 patrons and five staff. The lawsuit claims that police destroyed video surveillance equipment, and kept patrons and staff handcuffed for up to five hours. Since then, the lawsuit claims, the TPS has raided the club over 50 times, harassing staff and patrons. None of these allegations have been proven in court. It’s the second time the Comfort Zone has pursued a legal claim of this nature; in 2009, it launched a similar lawsuit against then councillor Adam Vaughan, claiming it had been the victim of a systematic harassment campaign aimed at shutting the club down.  Read more

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Community and officers welcome the modern police facility

By Andrew Russell

Police officers, political dignitaries and community members packed the entrance of the new home of Toronto’s 14 Division at 350 Dovercourt Road.  Read more

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