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Cannawide marijuana dispensary is raided by Toronto Police officers in Toronto on Thursday, May 26, 2016.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press

In the wake of Toronto's city-wide crackdown on marijuana retailers, the larger, licensed producers, are finding themselves in a difficult position. While they do not want to officially support the illegal dispensaries, they appear concerned about alienating large numbers of potential marijuana customers who are upset with the closures.

Some of those producers, who weeks ago were calling for the government to put an end to the rapid proliferation of illegal stores, are beginning to tone down their once vocal criticism. At Saturday's lift Cannabis Expo in downtown Toronto, where dispensaries and their supporters rub shoulders with the cream of the country's licensed cannabis industry, producers were quick to distance themselves from Thursday's police sweep.

"We don't like seeing confusion in the cannabis market place. We don't like seeing anybody get arrested, particularly patients or the guy working behind the counter who probably thought he had a legal day job. We don't like that," said Mark Zekulin, the president of the country's largest licensed producer, Tweed. "But equally, we do believe in rules. We do believe in regulation, and that those things should exist and be followed."

Under current laws, selling cannabis products to consumers is illegal outside of Health Canada's mail-order system for licensed medical marijuana. Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said the raids were prompted by more than fifty complaints and a concern for public health.

In January, Tweed launched a lobbying campaign aimed at convincing the Liberal government to start the production of recreational marijuana along the same lines as medical marijuana. They proposed that marijuana be sold to adults who are at least 19 years old, arguing that Canada Post, with its ability to check the age of its clients, should be the first distributor.

Such a plan would prohibit small shops such as the ones that have been popping up across Toronto from peddling the drug.

"Dispensaries have been spending money and sacrificing their freedoms to win the court case battles that have made all of this possible," said Adolfo Gonzalez of Eden, a Vancouver-based dispensary with stores that were raided in Toronto. "The people that have been challenging prohibition have been dispensaries and the people that are utilizing that legislation to their benefits are the [licensed producers]."

For Mr. Gonzalez, the series of raids that were carried out last week have unearthed long simmering tensions between the two sides. While admitting that Tweed and other companies were not directly responsible for the clamp down by authorities, he blamed their lobbying efforts for fostering an environment of distrust towards small retailers.

At Saturday's trade show, activists unfurled a banner that reads "Save our Dispensaries" at one of the expo booths. A petition denouncing the raids was circulated, and money was being collected to assist some of the more defiant dispensaries as they begin to mount a legal defence.

Barnet Goldberg, a legal counsel at the licensed producer Potopia.ca, said earlier he understands the appeal of the pot shops.

"At the end of the day, the problem comes down to, ultimately, people love their dope dealers and they love their dispensaries. Because you can feel, touch feel. And you know what you're getting, and you get it immediately. And the deal through producers, is a bit of a hassle," he said.

Despite these advantages, Mr. Goldberg said, police were justified in cracking down on the city's dispensaries. The health risks posed by peddling an unregulated substance were not worth the few benefits it offered, he said. " A lot of [dispensary owners] are very nice guys, and it's a shame that they're losing their livelihoods, but I don't think I want a city where every second store sells dope."

With a report from Daniel LeBlanc

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