Los Angeles city prosecutor targets medical marijuana dispensaries

Photograph by Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Organica Collective owner Jeff Joseph  is taken into custody by LAPD undercover officers after a raid by federal agents and Los Angeles police officers at his marijuana dispensary.

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The Los Angeles city attorney today escalated his bid to regain control over the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries, filing suit against three and sending letters to 18 to try to force them to stop selling the drug, alleging the outlets have repeatedly violated state law.

City Atty. Carmen Trutanich had pledged to take aggressive action to shut down illegal dispensaries. Hundreds of stores have opened in Los Angeles while the City Council debated an ordinance to regulate them. The council passed the law, but it still has not taken effect.

Trutanich launched his campaign with a single lawsuit against an Eagle Rock dispensary called Hemp Factory V. He recently won an injunction to force it to stop selling marijuana in a ruling that suggests he could see a similar result in the three new lawsuits. The judge in the case agreed with Trutanich that state law does not authorize dispensaries to sell the drug.

Today’s suits were filed against Organica, a dispensary that straddles Culver City and Los Angeles, and two locations of Holistic Caregivers in South Los Angeles.

Based on allegations of illegal activity that stem from undercover police buys, the city attorney’s office also sent letters to 18 landlords to warn them that the dispensaries renting their property are violating state and local drug laws and that the landlords could face a lawsuit.

The letters give the property owners 30 days to respond.

Organica, which was raided by police and federal agents Thursday, has been raided twice before. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley had cited the dispensary as one he was considering filing charges against, but no charges have been filed. The owner, Jeff Joseph, closed the store after the second raid, but recently reopened. He could not be reached for comment, and the city attorney’s office said he was the subject of an arrest warrant for sales of marijuana.

The city attorney’s office said people who were stopped near Organica admitted picking up large quantities of marijuana from the dispensary to deliver to other dispensaries.

The two Holistic Caregivers stores were among seven owned by Virgil Grant that were the target of a multi-agency investigation. The city attorney’s office said law enforcement officers made undercover buys and found large quantities of marijuana products. Grant was convicted last year of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance.

-- John Hoeffel

Comments

[lwps]

Isn't showboating politicians what is causing most of the world's problems?

[RabidinL.A.]

That's it, not-so-Trucha Trutanich and sidekick Cooley Coolairo, rack up more non-violent "crimes" for the court dockets, squandering our tax dollars and court time instead of pursuing gangs and their slimy activities which include, but not limited to: extortion, identity theft, welfare fraud, unlimited robberies, unlimited armed robberies, illegal arms, drug, and human trafficking (for the mexican drug cartels), prostitution (result of their human trafficking and slavery), rape, murder, murder, and more murder. One must think these two are gang "madrinas". Go after THEIR "dispensaries" and their myriad of torturous crimes instead of obsessing on these petty offenses. But then again, you two should be up on the court docket for violating California state law, decreed by edict of The People. Your wild-eyed and fanatical obsession with going against State Law due to personal opinion and issues are simply unacceptable. Or do you enjoy impunity? Please go spend our tax dollars wisely and catch real criminals. We want to be SERVED, REPRESENTED, AND PROTECTED, not persecuted, harassed, and murdered.

[Drivelphobe]

If marijuana is for the treatment of medical problems, then a prescription should be filled at a pharmacy by a licensed pharmacist. It should be available in pill or capsule form. How is is possible that the lowest form of life, drug dealers, can sell this garbage out of a hole-in -the-wall?

The dealers and their addict customers, a despicable bunch, are the only ones supporting this activity. The public, taxpaying voters want these vermin shut down. Trutanich is on the right track.

Smoking anything, can't be beneficial to the body. Like cigarettes, the stench is nauseating and the lung damage obvious.

Trutanich is doing his job and the sooner we rid our neighborhoods of these pukes, the better.

[Jack]

Nopotheads must be a Republican! Bet you love alcohol!

[AD]

So glad the city attorney is using resources to fight this "epidemic" while black and Latino kids die every day in South LA. This is a joke - who does he work for the people or pharmaceutical industries?

[Michael S.]

Trutanich is a horse's ass, a political animal attempting to earn a place among Los Angeles' right-wing community on the day he seeks higher office.

[John Clark]

Please keep it illegal. Those that sell it illegally want to keep the price up. After all, it is a big risk to cut into the governments monopoly on drug distribution. They deserve to be rewarded for their risk-taking.

[Lovescowbell]

Night of The Long Knives

[American Citizen]

Why do we claim to live in a Democracy when people like this city worker tries to undo what the majority of the citizens voted for? It is NOT a Democracy when stooges like this can waste taxpayer money and go after patients who are within the law. I agree with other posters, the old gov't propaganda that states Marijuana is bad for you is bogus, so their credibility on everything else goes out the window...You EITHER HAVE INTEGRITY OR YOU DO NOT....We don't believe you anymore that weed is bad,,, we've been smoking it for 40 years and know different.... Time to sell it, tax it and stop wasting money prosecuting peaceful Americans....It is not a WAR on Drugs,, It is a WAR against DEMOCRACY!

[Michael Jordan]

You folks in Los Angeles need to arrest this DA and that cop in the photo who is finding his only friend with his finger. This type of arrest is illegal in California and a law breaking DA needs to be jailed and placed in Corcoran (or Chowchilla if he is indeed as gay as he looks). Girly boys and Republican DA faggots need to be stopped and ground up into hamburger and fed to the dogs.

What has happened to the LA Times?

[lovescowbell]

They call him "Jeffrey James".
Just like Jesse James, who under the guise of attack for the Confederates' side, filled his own pockets with money and acted as a martyr - so Jeffrey Joseph pretends he is on the Marijuana Legalization side while he fills his own pockets.
Although there are plenty of good things he has done, communal-living, parties, music and art happenings, the reality is that Jeff is a hedonistic sociopath: a wolf in cheap clothing. He wants nothing more than to rule his realm (and harem), to be a millionaire in one year (instead of working hard for five) and to be a martyr for the MMJ movement.
Don't be fooled.

[LA Taxpayer]

Mr. Trutanich, please stop persecuting medical marijuana dispensaries, this is the safest place to obtain our herbs. We all want it taxed and would like to contribute to the city tax base. We want those taxes spent only on education k-12 and college, keep the teachers and keep the classes. We want to help. Spending any resources that put more people out of work and eliminates another taxpayer needs to stop. Is this another way for the agencies to justify their jobs? The dispensaries in my community donate to local charity and us patients contribute food and clothes for the homeless. Do your pharmacists do that? I would rather see less billboards around town and less advertising. I would rather see less obese kids. I would rather see our tax dollars spent combating things like poverty, homelessness and education. We should vote on what campaigns you pursue, this is not one of them. With 4000 layoffs or however many, you cannot get careless with our money. Use it for schools.

[LA Taxpayer]

I would rather see less guns on the streets and less violent crime over all. Legal marijuana dispensaries that we have in place serve a vital role in our community. Please focus your efforts on getting guns off the streets or or eliminating organized crime or street gangs. Go after the identity theft rings and fraudulent ID scams that provide people with fake IDS. Human trafficking, rape, murder, the big nasty stuff. What about scofflaw cops? I believe the city council has no right to refute a state law the people succeeded in passing back in 1996.

[pharma dope]

hey you who call yourself no potheads
if i stop using my prescribed cannabis, i will become agitated and i might resort to violence

[UnbelievableCa]

just lovely, felons get out of prison, prison? and regular voting & tax paying citizens will serve county jail time to keep the jails full and the deputies that "baby sit" them employed at our tax paying expense. just great! decriminalize it, tax it, what the heck, just outright legalize it and the laws pertaining to it's use.
stop jailing people that abuse their bodies with alcohol or drugs at our expense in jails and make them pay for their own rehap and treatment as non-criminials! seriously. like other 1st world countries! Netherlands?? Belgium? hello.

[RecallTrutanich]

The people of California have spoken. Cannabis dispensaries exist because voters have endorsed medical cannabis. If cannabis were taxed and regulated it would get us out of this economic crisis. Instead, we are laying off teachers and cutting funds for education. Instead, the County recently announced 3000 lay-offs.

Crime rates have plunged in L.A. Law enforcement bureaucrats are in fear and need to justify their inflated salaries and excessive overtime. The L.A. City Council has defended voter approved medical cannabis. Council member Ed Reyes has publicly called out Trutanich, demanding that he defend the City's position. But Trutanich doesn't represent the people, he represents private interest groups, namely law enforcement.

[Frank]

I think this crack down is a direct response to the activities of a group called The Green Alliance of Patients & Providers who is attempting to overturn the recently passed ordinance by the referendum process. They want to do this because they are the owners of the dispensaries that will be shut down, and they don't want to lose their (green) golden goose.

The problem with their plan is that if they actually get enough signatures for a referendum, it will push Trutanich, Cooley and the DEA to become more aggressive than they have ever been in L.A. This fight has become personal for them. They don't care about budget problems. They have established their test case with The Hemp Factory, and they will shut down every dispensary not following the approved ordinance.

This is another perfect example of the greed in this business causing it's own downfall. Every legitimate patient and advocate in the state should be pushing against TheGAPP and encouraging the immediate implementation of L.A.'s ordinance. Doing anything less will ensure more raids, jail sentences and ruined lives.

[sarah]

I voted for the legalization of medical marijuana. I did not vote for money laundering and tax evasion.

[Justin]

Thats crazy stuff. I have a friend who grows and runs www.igrowblog.org, they aren't hurting anyone! Let the people do as they will!

[mikeopinion]

looks like the cops rather bust harmless pot smokers then patrol known areas where young women are raped and murdered its time we hold the police responsible for their inept qualifications to be a law enforcer shame on them shut them down and lets crate a peoples law enforcement system.

[mikeopinion]

recall time

[Monirul]

I am new to the boards and just wanted to say i am very very happy to read this blog.