Search Results: los-angeles (37)

Photo: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times
Budtender Kim prepares an order for a client at Green Oasis, in October 2009. Green Oasis is one of the shops that was shut down under Los Angeles’ restrictive new medical marijuana ordinance.

​Los Angeles city officials announced Wednesday that only 41 medical marijuana dispensaries are eligible to stay in business under the city’s restrictive ordinance. The number is so low that the city said it will suspend the process of narrowing the number of shops, and ask a judge to rule that it is legal, reports John Hoeffel at the Los Angeles Times.

The announcement means that at least 129 of the dispensaries that had been allowed to remain open under the previous moratorium will now be forced to close.

“It was a surprise,” said Jane Usher, special assistant city attorney who worked with the City Council to draft the complex law, and is defending it in court.

Graphic: sitfu.com

​If you’re a medical marijuana patient in Washington D.C., you may never be too broke to buy cannabis again, starting next year.

The District of Columbia, with one of the highest poverty levels in the country, has become the first place to pass a law discounting medical marijuana for low-income patients.
“The D.C. proposal to subsidize the cost of medical marijuana for low income patients is especially appropriate, and something that the other medical use states should consider,” said Keith Stroup, legal counsel for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
“With the cost of medical marijuana anywhere from $200 to $600 per ounce (and even higher at some dispensaries in California), there are many patients who simply cannot afford their medicine,” Stroup told Toke of the Town Thursday afternoon.

Photo: Los Angeles Cannabis Clubs
JJ Herbal says it is committed to serving patients in the West Los Angeles area — even if the city tries to shut it down

​A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge’s rejection on Friday of requests for a temporary restraining order on L.A.’s ordinance restricting the number of medical marijuana dispensaries means hundreds of shops must close on Monday. But at least one dispensary on Santa Monica Boulevard plans on staying open.

According to Michael Lee, manager at JJ Herbal, there are no plans to close, even if it is found the shop is out of compliance with the new law.
The facility’s attorney is still determining whether JJ Herbal is affected by the ordinance because of its proximity to a residential area, reports Jonathan Friedman at Lookout News.

Photo: The Fresh Scent

​After countless media reports about Los Angeles’s “1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries,” which news organizations repeatedly said was “more pot shops that Starbucks,” we finally have a number, repots Dennis Romero at the L.A. Weekly — and it’s 583.

The hard number comes courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Department, which looked at a list of dispensaries forwarded to it by City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. The LAPD then had officers confirm the outlets that were up and running throughout the city.

Photo: Opposing Views
Protestors gather at a California Narcotics Officers’ Association seminar on “Eradicating Medical Cannabis Dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County”

​Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed an amicus “friend of the court” brief Friday in an attempt to intervene in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s effort to shut down registered cannabis dispensaries.

In particular, ASA filed a brief refuting the city attorney’s argument that sales are illegal, raised in lawsuits against two Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries, Organica and Holistic Caregivers.
ASA also argued in the brief that City Attorney Carmen Trutanich took preemptive enforcement action before the local ordinance has even taken effect.

Photo: Shay Sowden/LAist

​Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) responded Tuesday to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s latest effort to shut down registered dispensaries by threatening to intervene in the lawsuits the city filed recently against raided collectives Organica and Holistic Caregivers.

According to ASA, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has taken preemptive enforcement action before dispensaries have a chance to comply with the recently adopted regulatory ordinance, which took more than two years to write and pass.
“It’s clear that the City Attorney is attempting to intimidate and close dispensaries before the Los Angeles ordinance even goes into effect,” said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford.

Graphic: www.losangelesmedicalmarijuana.org

​After more than two years of deliberation, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11-3 Tuesday afternoon to adopt the first reading of an ordinance regulating the sale of medical marijuana in the city.

The ordinance will establish rules for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives.
Patients and advocates worked throughout the process to improve several versions of an ordinance they considered to be flawed.