Although by no means and under no circumstances this word is used as honorific nowadays, in phrases like "Это мой товарищ" there's no hint of any political or historical connotations. It is quite common usage of this word, though it word "товарищ" is less used nowadays than word "приятель".
Sometimes, especially while appealing to a group of people (colleagues, friends etc.) form "товарищи" is used in ironical context:
Товарищи! Давайте-ка поторопимся и успеем всё доделать к обеду.
Moreover, there's no such connotation (if, once again, it is not intentional) in related words, such like по-товарищески
.