Dozens more L.A. medical marijuana dispensaries ordered immediately closed

Los Angeles city officials have widened their campaign against illegal medical marijuana dispensaries, warning an additional 60 stores that they must shut down immediately.
 
The new letters went out earlier this week about two weeks after the city attorney's office notified the operators and landlords of another 141 pot shops that they must close. The letters warn that the city could sue violators, seek financial penalties and “padlock the property.”
 
SEARCH: Complete list of dispensaries in lottery or ordered to shut down

Asha Greenberg, the assistant city attorney who oversees the enforcement efforts, said that city employees checked every one of the newly notified locations to be certain the businesses were open.

“These were locations that we were unclear about,” she said. She added, however, that the office has not determined whether all those stores are selling marijuana.

The city’s letter asks for a response. So far, Greenberg said, the city attorney’s office has received information on two dozen locations. At 11, the dispensaries are closed. At six, owners said they were acting to close them. At another six, the dispensaries are still open. And at one site, the business has denied that it is a medical marijuana dispensary.
 
If the notified dispensaries do not close, the city attorney’s office will work with the police department to gather evidence that can be used in court proceedings to shut them down. Greenberg said she could not estimate how long that process would take.
 
The city has taken aim at any dispensary that did not register to participate in a lottery to choose 100 dispensaries that will be allowed to operate. The city clerk received 228 applications. The office is reviewing them to make sure they meet the qualifications for the drawing, which include having been in business since Sept. 14, 2007, and having at least one of the same operators.
 
Greenberg said it was not possible to know whether the city has now identified most of the illegal stores in Los Angeles. “I hear all the time that there are new ones opening and old ones reopening,” she said. “It will always be a moving a target.”

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Complete coverage of medical marijuana

— John Hoeffel

Map shows locations of dispensaries ordered closed in purple and those vying to stay in the lottery in green. Source: Los Angeles city attorney's office

ordered shut down or

Comments

[Take Freedom Back]

Tampering with these medical facilities is unlawful, even if it is the police and DEA that are committing the crime. We must prepare for these unlawful invasions using all means necessary, no matter what state we live in. This could mean contacting, yes, your local police to defend your business against other "bad" police who are acting outside the law.

[MLarsen]

@TakeFreedomBack, Interesting idea: "all means necessary". There is a dude dressed in black with a gun hanging outside a pot shop on Eagle Rock Boulevard right now. I wonder if they are following your advice?

[Eagle Rock Lover]

Oh no... Michael has voted himself the Fashion Police of ER. Can you say PPPParanaoid? Run out & take a sub par piccy Michael -self promotion waits for no man..

[Warren]

Asha Greenberg

Remember this name......

[mE]

Greenberg must either not have political aspirations, or she has short term memory loss and doesn't remember how Cooley was marched out of office for this same stupidity by the Los Angeles Marijuana Mafia.

[malcolm kyle]

It's time for us all to stop being ignorant hypocrites and start being TRUE conservatives!

Pragmatic libertarians (minimal-statists) and "true" Conservatives agree that many, if not most, of society's problems are caused by government usurping choices that could better be made by individuals and that government is just about the worst way of doing almost anything. Where libertarianism normally parts company with "fake" conservatism is over moral issues. But a true conservative would have no problem with agreeing, that what people do with their own bodies, and especially in the privacy of their own home, should be supremely their business, and that anything else would entail ignoring the basic tenet of limited government.

Fake-Conservatism on the other hand has much in common with socialism; Both Leftists and Fake-Conservatives appear to harbor the belief that nature does not exist and that any human can be anything he wants to be, or can for the "greater good", be "re-educated" into being. Leftists therefore think little boys can be conditioned into preferring dolls over toy soldiers, and similarly Fake-conservatives believe that adults can be coerced into choosing alcohol over marijuana. A true conservative, just like a pragmatic libertarian, would immediately reject both ideas as nonsense.

If you support prohibition then you are NOT a conservative.
Conservative principles, quite clearly, ARE:

1) Limited, locally controlled government.
2) Individual liberty coupled with personal responsibility.
3) Free enterprise.
4) A strong national defense.
5) Fiscal responsibility.

Prohibition is actually an authoritarian War on the economy, the Constitution and all civic institutions of our great nation.

[Kevin]

Not from LA. But isn't 100 dispensaries more than enough?

[Hugh G. Rekshon]

Anyone who wants these places closed has never had cancer.

[LAmedicalMarijuana]

what a JOKE! The city attorney trying to shutdown dispensaries with letters!

These dispensaries will refuse to shutdown because you cannot bring criminal penalties against anyone.

Worst case scenario these dispensaries move and re-open in a new location! At which point it will probably take LA City a year or two just to find where the dispensary moved.

The worst part is the city council is on the take , they take bribes from the current large MEGA-dispensaries. that is how this medical marijuana ordinance got created, large dispensaries, cartels, and the entrenched former marijuana power structure, wrote the new ordinance because there was too much competition.

After this new medical MJ ordinance is in place, and there can legally be no more competition; the mexican cartels will come in and strong arm everybody with the LAPD's help. Once the cartels have a limited amount of dispensaries it is just a matter of controlling them with the law and the local LAPD so that they can use the medical MJ dispensaries as an outlet for south american marijuana

look up north; look around they limit the amount of dispensaries; they create and limit the amount of mega-costco-dispesnaries at which point they control distribution for the local area (cartels move in at this point). then once there are just the mega dispensaries the pockets get lined and the status quo get reinstated. All the while real life patient get forced into paying high prices for low quality medicine. <--- this is the fact that doesn't get reported!

the status quo will not change. the cartels, the police, the city council, the prison guards union they will not allow a free market for marijuana because they will not be able the line their pockets if they can't control the production (home growers, old people growing in their backyard etc look at sb420 why do u think it was written with so many limits!!!)

Medical Marijuana has stopped a large flow of money to people who used to make money off of Marijuana (mexican cartels , police who harass medical mj users, prison guards who routinely benefit from the prison industrial complex)

Now that Medical MJ is here the mexican cartels, the lapd, the prison guards are fiending to control it so that they can get back the old lost revenue they used to receive before prop 215.

[lamedicalmarijuana]

what a JOKE! The city attorney trying to shutdown dispensaries with letters!

These dispensaries will refuse to shutdown because you cannot bring criminal penalties against anyone.

Worst case scenario these dispensaries move and re-open in a new location! At which point it will probably take LA City a year or two just to find where the dispensary moved.

The worst part is the city council is on the take , they take bribes from the current large MEGA-dispensaries. that is how this medical marijuana ordinance got created, large dispensaries, cartels, and the entrenched former marijuana power structure, wrote the new ordinance because there was too much competition.

After this new medical MJ ordinance is in place, and there can legally be no more competition; the mexican cartels will come in and strong arm everybody with the LAPD's help. Once the cartels have a limited amount of dispensaries it is just a matter of controlling them with the law and the local LAPD so that they can use the medical MJ dispensaries as an outlet for south american marijuana

look up north; look around they limit the amount of dispensaries; they create and limit the amount of mega-costco-dispesnaries at which point they control distribution for the local area (cartels move in at this point). then once there are just the mega dispensaries the pockets get lined and the status quo get reinstated. All the while real life patient get forced into paying high prices for low quality medicine. <--- this is the fact that doesn't get reported!

the status quo will not change. the cartels, the police, the city council, the prison guards union they will not allow a free market for marijuana because they will not be able the line their pockets if they can't control the production (home growers, old people growing in their backyard etc look at sb420 why do u think it was written with so many limits!!!)

Medical Marijuana has stopped a large flow of money to people who used to make money off of Marijuana (mexican cartels , police who harass medical mj users, prison guards who routinely benefit from the prison industrial complex)

Now that Medical MJ is here the mexican cartels, the lapd, the prison guards are fiending to control it so that they can get back the old lost revenue they used to receive before prop 215.

@kevin it is called limiting distribution points; to create super mega dispensaries; mexican drug cartels come in strong arm the remaining dispensaries; happens all the time but doesn't get reported :(

[Tbomb4hemp]

close them all down! i've been to dozens of dispensaries in the area, and every single one of them over-charges - theyre making boat-loads of cash, there is no compassion! do yourself a favor and grow your own, or get in good with someone who does. hemp hemp hurray!!

[peaches]

Keep it illegal. I'd rather give money to the cartels than to Mayor Villaraigosa.

They at least admit to be criminals, while the mayor and the city council hide their corruption behind the seal of the city of Los Angeles.

[Michael Cohen]

Shutting down these dispensaries will only make things more profitable for the remaining dispensaries while the patients are forced to suffer. This is a complete waste of time and resources. This is a major Fail on the Los Angeles City council and the District attorney's office. We have seen how Steve Cooley's Campaign against medical marijuana has worked out for him. This is not the time to be wasting time and resources when the people who are going to suffer are the patients.

[half tilted]

put the control of marihuana back in the hands of street dealers.

it was cheaper and no taxes were added in.

[LAmedicalMarijuana]

half tilted , peaches, Michael Cohen

you both have a great point. it is almost better if marijuana were kept illegal at this point

there is so much corruption going on.

large dispensaries creating this ordinance and paying off city council officials to eliminate competition

THE ORDINANCE WAS CREATED BY THE LARGE DISPENSARIES AND THE CARTELS TO CONTROL DISTRIBUTION OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND TO KEEP THE PRICES AT AN ALL TIME HIGH!!

[Gary M Ruehle]

During these very hard times of un employment we have these "representatives" of the people putting even more people out of work. Hard working, tax paying, family raising people that are selling a PLANT are being threatened and their livelihoods stopped. We need to put these so called "representatives" of the people out on the un-employment line. VOTE the buzzards out of office and let We The People be back in charge. )^_^)

[Eric Williams]

Murderers running neighborhoods, Cities broke, Violent crimes at all-time high, yet the Police spend too much time, and valuable resources on the Cannibas Shops. I think it's time they leave alone, and go after the real problems.

[V]

There are 16,000 liquor stores in L.A. Alcohol is a much harder drug than marijuana. Tobacco is far more addictive and destructive than even alcohol is.

No one has the right to tell another individual what to put into his/her body.

L-E-G-A-L-I-Z-E

[Eagle Rock Lover]

I think Mr Larson should take a commanding position over Eagle Rock Blvd and anyone with hair or questionable fashion should be held for questioning...

[Stephen J. Smith]

Illegal?? According to whom??? Oh right, we don't want to deprive liquor stores of their rightful gain. The only criminals here are in county government.

[drewwwwww]

if marijuana is being used for medical purposes, and you need a prescription or a "card" in order to receive it, then why isn't it distributed through a pharmacy, where medical professionals provide the medication and patient consultation?

i'm not trying to challenge anyone or suggest anything. it's just a question that ive had for quite a while...

[Warren]

Shouldn't the free market determine what shops stay open and closes?

This new Ordinance will close some of the good shops while some of the bad apples will remain open. I'm sure the City Attorney will use any thing a bad shop my do against the industry as a whole.

[LA]

Good!!They are a nuiscence to the people who live in the surrounding area. 99.9% of the people filtering through their doors have no real medial aliments requiring a prescription for pot. It's a scam.

[Karl]

The sooner we users realize that our attempts to sway voters have backfired, the sooner we'll see our drug of choice legalized. We have assumed the public is stupid and blind. They know as we do that pot is linked to harder drugs, crime and health issues -- which means more costs to communities. The sooner we as a pro-drug lobby take these issues seriously, the sooner we'll see our drug de-marginalized.

As long as we keep screaming "it's medical pot", all the while knowing that 99% of all users are just like me and do it to get high, voters will continue to kick us to the curb.

[Rocco]

We have budget problems. Quit wasting our money !