Los Angeles Marijuana Dispensaries

October 7, 2011

Feds Threatening Crackdown on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries, Landlords in Los Angeles

The feds have landed.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that federal prosecutors are moving to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state. The feds have sent letters to landlords, warning them to stop drug sales on their properties within 45 days or risk property sale and seizures.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana defense lawyers are closely following this issue. As we reported recently on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, the conflict between state and federal law continues to surface in medical marijuana court decisions across Southern California.

The specter of federal marijuana dispensary charges in Los Angeles is real. Despite initial indication from the Obama Administration that the feds were not looking to enforce laws contrary to medical marijuana patient rights, the federal government has steadily moved toward stricter enforcement. We reported earlier this year that the Internal Revenue Service was getting involved in going after medical marijuana dispensaries in Southern California.

This latest move is seen by many as a major escalation in federal enforcement after the previous announcement led to a boom in marijuana-related businesses.

“It’s basically the federal bureaucracy doing what it has done for the last 15 years and just continuing to put its head in the sand and saying no on this,” said Dale Gieringer, the director of California NORML.

The four U.S. attorneys have scheduled a press conference Friday morning in Sacramento, where they plan to outline the enforcement plans. Earlier this year, an internal memo suggested the feds would primarily target large-scale growers and dispensaries — those handling more than 200 kilos or 1,000 plants per year.

The landlord for the oldest dispensary in the state — Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax– is among those who have received a letter. That letter mentioned the prohibition against dispensaries within 1,000 feet of a park or other sensitive areas.

“There’s always been a different policy depending on where you are,” said Gieringer. “They’re going to try to clean up San Diego and just cause some random damage up here.”

While running for president, Obama said the government should not raid users and caregivers. It became the administration’s official policy three months after he was elected. Since then, the feds have consistently backpedaled from that stance.

The U.S. Attorney in the Bay Area opposed moves by Oakland and Berkeley to permit large-scale cultivation. These latest letters are just one more indication that the government is saying one thing and doing another when it comes to medical marijuana.
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October 2, 2011

Study Concludes that Closing Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles Increases Crime Rates

By Cannabis Law Group

A recently released study concluded that as medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles close, crime rates climb, according to CBS NEWS.

This study challenges a number of claims that have been made by local and state law enforcement agencies that these storefronts raise crime rates.

The report that was conducted by RAND Corp., examined crime reports from the 10 days leading up to the shutdown of clinics and 10 days after their closure when the city passed a strict new ordinance. All of this data concluded that crime rates increased roughly 60 percent with a three block radius of a dispensary that was closed in comparison to an area with a dispensary that remained open.

Our Orange County medical marijuana lawyers understand that collectives and dispensaries provide a vital service to residents throughout the state. Law enforcement agencies continue to place rules, regulations and bans in an attempt to keep some false sense of empowerment. The truth is that the medical marijuana industry is thriving and many residents rely on the service of these companies to treat serious medical conditions.

“If medical marijuana dispensaries are causing crime, then there should be a drop in crime when they close,” said Mireille Jacobson, who is a RAND senior economist and was the lead author of the study.

Jacobson also says that individual dispensaries may have the ability to attract crime in a neighborhood as any individual business can, but there has been no evidence that proves medical marijuana dispensaries cause neighborhood crime to rise.

According to Los Angeles City Council, crime in areas with these dispensaries is a huge concern. As a matter of fact, the theory that dispensaries bring crime was the main contributor that caused council members to raise restrictions and eventually close these businesses down. Local law enforcement officials claimed that these companies influence crime because the dispensaries deal with a lot of cash at a time and that thieves are attracted to the buildings because marijuana can be stolen and resold.

In June of 2010, there were two dispensary employees who were killed during two separate robberies in the city.

According to Lee Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff, almost every single dispensary in the city operated as a criminal enterprise last September. This was a claim that didn’t sit well with those who support medical marijuana. These supporters say that this claim was just another scare tactic used by enforcement officers to sway public views.

James Shaw, a member of the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, says that local officers have simply created this theory that there is more crime in areas with dispensaries and collectives.

Throughout the recent study, crime reports from more than 600 dispensaries in Los Angeles County were examined. Of these 600 reports, more than 400 dispensaries had been forced to close and only 170 were permitted to stay open. The study concluded that there was less crime in areas closer to these clinics. Within just 6 blocks of a dispensary that had been closed, the crime rate rose by nearly 25 percent.

Researchers believe that the crime rate increased once these stores closed because of the security cameras. Once these shops were gone, so were there cameras and so were the patrolling officers.

The City’s attorney’s office doesn’t agree with this study, saying it’s all wrong!

The office released a statement that said that the conclusions of this study were based on false assumptions, untested data, incomplete results and irrelevant data.
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September 13, 2011

Disastrous L.A. Medical Marijuana Ordinance cited in Push to Reduce City Council to Part Time

By Cannabis Law Group

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana defense lawyers note a recent L.A. Daily News article by Kevin James, which suggests reducing pay and benefits of council and making it a part-time position.

We think the idea has merit. A look at the disastrous L.A. medical marijuana ordinance is a good example of council’s recent work. With the city facing critical budget shortfalls and other serious public health and safety issues, council has spent or will spend millions in tax dollars defending an ordinance it has repeatedly modified in an attempt to survive more than 50 lawsuits. All to address an issue voters settled more than 15 years ago. Combine that with the fact that the entire state nearly legalized marijuana altogether, and voters have clearly spoken.

Meanwhile, taxpayers are forking over $1.7 million per year per council seat. The L.A. City Council is the highest paid in the nation — each member receives $178,789, as well as a car and a $100,000 taxpayer funded slush fund. Council employs a staff of more than 300. Changing council to part time — as has been done in Washington D.C. and New York City, would also open up council to working professionals and help provide city hall with a much-needed dose of the real world.

Six of the 10 largest cities in the nation are run with part-time councils. And James reports that the L.A. council members only work part time anyway — rotating through meetings to keep enough members in attendance to conduct business while providing each member with the maximum available time off.

“Los Angeles today is a city in secular decline. Its current political leadership seems determined … to leave behind a dense, government-dominated, bankrupt, dysfunctional Athens by the Pacific,” wrote Joel Kotkin, an urban development professor, in a recent piece in The Wall Street Journal.

James notes the city’s medical marijuana ordinance as one of council’s most egregious failings and points to the full-time positions as promoting corruption. More than half of council members have faced conflict-of-interest or ethical allegations and the Center for Governmental Studies’ report, “Money and Power in the City of Angels,” found that the L.A. Council votes unanimously more than 99 percent of the time.

The reported noted such unanimous decisions make it difficult or impossible to link votes to campaign contributions.
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September 8, 2011

Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Ordinance Challenged for Lack of Environmental Impact Study

By Cannabis Law Group

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys frequently report when our L.A. politicians act before they think. And we are never short of opportunities — particularly when it comes to their knee-jerk reactions over medical marijuana, which has apparently become the only pressing issue in the city they care to address.

As the Sacramento Bee reports, the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients has filed a legal challenge in Los Angeles Superior Court. The case challenges the Los Angeles medical marijuana ordinance based on the fact that the city failed to do an environmental impact report.

“The City is compelled to consider the results of this dramatic change to the neighborhoods of the surviving patient associations or collectives, including a potential increase in traffic, parking, noise, air and water pollution, land use, utilities, and many other factors,” Director James Shaw wrote.

The agency notes the ordinance, which council passed in January 2010, was so legally dubious that a judge placed a hold on its implementation and the city has repeatedly amended it in an effort to survive 57 lawsuits. Shaw said an environmental impact study needs to be done regarding the reduction in the number of dispensaries from more than 400 to less than 100. To say nothing of the fact that most of the remaining 100 will have to move.

“The 75 percent reduction in available locations means, just to give one example, that cultivation has to be quadrupled at the 100 remaining collectives, which would need to use a lot more electricity and water and dispose of additional waste water and plant matter,” the complaint states.

Shaw said about 100,000 medical marijuana patients rely on the medicine in Los Angeles. The ordinance will result in a tremendous disruption in service and undue travel. He said a prohibition that would require dispensaries to locate at least 1,000 feet from schools, libraries, parks and child care facilities means most would have to located in distant industrial and rural areas. Such a move would create “a tremendous hardship on the most seriously ill.”

He also disputes the oft-spouted analogy of regulating liquor stores — noting there are more than 3,400 liquor stores in the city — or 34 times the number of medical marijuana dispensaries.
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September 2, 2011

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles Regulated by City Government under AB1300

By Cannabis Law Group

Last week, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that allows all local governments to regulate the locations of medical marijuana dispensaries in California. The bill, AB 1300, was first introduced by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills). It was also supported by the Los Angeles city attorney, according to NBC.

This law aims to settle the issue; pot shops continue to sue local government over location regulations. Under this new law, cities throughout California will have the ability to file criminal or civil charges against shops that violate the new regulations.

Our Orange County medical marijuana attorneys will continue to fight these rules and regulations. A court ruling has already sided with patients and collectives on the issue of criminal charges — ruling patients and collectives should not face criminal prosecution for something that is legal under state law.

State and local governments continue to have a difficult time understanding the obligation to obey the state Constitution. The state’s marijuana law was passed by the voters. Our attorneys do not believe state or local government has the right to construct rules or regulations that infringe upon the voter-approved rights of patients. As is usual with state government, too many of the politicians have forgotten that they work for the voters.

The governor also received SB 847 to further regulate the medical marijuana industry. This bill aims to stop medical marijuana shops from opening up within 600 feet of homes and residential areas. Although this bill has yet to be signed, it’s another real threat to the livelihood of the industry. A number of residents in local residential areas rely on the convenient location of these shops to receive their prescribed medication. Limiting their operational areas will put dispensaries out of reach for many deserving patients.

“The new law will provide a framework for stability after years of struggling with a Wild West, lawless proliferation of dispensaries across California that sometimes constitute a public nuisance or worse,” Blumenfield said.

The governor has 12 days to decide on that SB 847, which was introduced by state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana).

A number of our medical marijuana dispensaries believe that the new law will only lead to a repeat of historic regulations. Take Los Angeles for example. Back in 2010, the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa passed and signed an ordinance that required medical marijuana dispensaries to:

-Only provide medical marijuana patients that “participate in the collective cultivation of marijuana at or upon the location of that collective.”

-Keep their businesses at least 1,000 feet away from all schools, libraries, child care facilities, parks, religions institutions, substance abuse rehabilitation centers, youth center and any other medical marijuana collective.

-Close shops from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m.

-Operate as a not-for-profit establishment. The only compensation it would be allowed to collect would be to cover expenses for cultivating, growing and providing the products.

It was these requirements, along with a limit on the number of dispensaries, that lead to hundreds of closed shops in the city.

A number of dispensaries have been shut down since the new law was signed, but companies are fighting back. Five dispensaries have already been shut down in Westwood, California. More are expected to be forced to close up shop.

The bottom line is that medical marijuana is a lucrative industry and should be regulated as a legitimate business in the U.S. But unnecessary regulations that put these companies out of business are only violating owners and patient’s rights.
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August 9, 2011

Shop Providing Medical Marijuana in North Hollywood Shut Down by City Officials

By Cannabis Law Group

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office recently obtained a court order to shut down operations at a medical marijuana dispensary in North Hollywood. Under the shutdown, the owner of the company was ordered to pay more than $35,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs earlier this week, according to the Studio City Patch.

During the eviction process, the owners of shop Starbudz Inc. were carried off the premises in the NoHo Arts District. Sheriff’s deputies cleared the area for the Los Angeles police to come in and seize the remaining property. The police officers confiscated 3.5 kilograms of marijuana, 37 plants and food items. Officers also took a 3-foot long iguana into custody.

Our Orange County medical marijuana attorneys would like to point out that this eviction action was the result of a number of alleged community complaints. No data has been released regarding these complaints. The city reportedly collected a significant amount of evidence through undercover marijuana purchases that were made at that location as well. The city also collected evidence after raiding the building through a search warrant executed by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Frank Mateljan of the city attorney’s office says that the city attorney’s notified the shop owners and the property owner back in January of “narcotics violations at the property.”

The shop neglected to file a Notice of Intent to Register under the city’s “temporary urgency” ordinance, a temporary law governing medical marijuana sales.

Back in March, the city attorney’s office filed an unlawful detainer action against the owners of this shop. The detainer was filed in an attempt to evict the shop and for the owners to forfeit the lease because the property owner had reportedly failed to take action to evict the shop.

A summary judgment was granted by the court in favor of the city back on June 17th. Through this judgment, the company owner was ordered by the court to pay $35,290 to the city for attorneys’ fees and costs. Two days later, the county Sheriff’s Department handed Starbudz and the property owner, Vineland Sunshine Properties, with a notice of lockout. The order was enforced and carried out that Wednesday.

Medical marijuana clinics in Hollywood are currently required to be staffed with the same type of expert medical doctors that you would find at any other healthcare practice. The only difference is that these health specialists deal specifically with evaluating patients who are suffering from symptoms that can be treated with the use of medical marijuana. Researchers have found that the drug is able to treat more than 100 different illnesses, diseases and chronic symptoms. All of these conditions have been approved by the state to be treated with the use of medical marijuana. If doctors believe that a patient can benefit from this treatment, they are then prescribed the drug and presented with a medical marijuana card.

According to the Medical Marijuana Program, there have been more than 55,000 medical marijuana cards issued in the state of California since 2004.

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July 1, 2011

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles and Elsewhere Rejected by Banks Everywhere

By Cannabis Law Group

Operators and supporters of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and elsewhere are having a difficult time doing business with their local banks. A number of banks have turned away these companies because they risk falling afoul of anti-money-laundering and drug-trafficking laws, according to International Business Times.

The co-owner of Denver-based dispensary Alpine Herbal Wellness, Sue Harank, says that a number of her accounts have been closed at two separate banks and at credit union. Her shop has been open for business since March of 2010.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys understand that owners and operators of these medical marijuana dispensaries have faced a number of obstacles and regulations from both the state and federal government. Now, with banks turning away their business, they’re forced to jump through even more hoops to provide their services to patients that rely on them for treatments.

“Both banks and the credit union pursued our business initially and said they had talked to the corporate office and run it through legal, but a month or two later they all reversed themselves,” said Harank.

The largest bank in the United States, Bank of America Corp, said that they started to withdraw their services from dispensaries after they received a warning from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in late 2007 or early 2008.

Marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical pot are all having a tough time getting assistance from banks and credit card companies. This issue will continue as federal authorities declare the medical marijuana business illegal.

It’s not just banks that are closing their doors on dispensaries. Credit card companies are also refusing service to the industry, even in states where medical marijuana is legal. These financial institutions report to just be operating in compliance with federal authority orders.

This pot business is estimated at $1.7 billion annually. In our state alone, the medical pot market size is estimated to be more than $1 billion.

“People have gotten their credit card accounts shut down without them even knowing it,” Harank says.

It’s not just operators in California that are experiencing this discrimination. A number of dispensary owners in various states, where marijuana has been legalized, have been hit by account shutdowns from a number of banks.

“They just summarily close accounts. Banks are very unsure if it’s OK to do business with medical cannabis organizations. It ripples out to credit card and merchant services accounts,” says Don Duncan, California director of the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access and a member of the board of the medical marijuana collective Los Angeles Patients and Caregivers Group in West Hollywood.
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June 20, 2011

Feds Fail at Linking Crime to Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles and Elsewhere

By Cannabis Law Group

The Imperial Beach Patch reports a study found no connection between crime and medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California.

The Imperial Beach City Council was scheduled to open the floor to public comments and read proposed ordinances last week before voters cast their votes on whether or not to adopt a ban on the dispensaries. They currently have a temporary moratorium that was first approved in 2009, but will expire in August.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys understand that oftentimes officials directly correlate crime with the presence of medical marijuana. The thing is, there has been no evidence to prove this claim. Crime has remained the same in areas with and without medical dispensaries. These theories are just another attempt for the government to paint the industry in a bad light in an effort to shut it down completely.

Back in December, City Manager Gary Brown recommended adopting a ban on these businesses because of what he thought was an increase in crime. He strongly believed that there was a significant increase of criminal activity near dispensaries in San Francisco and Los Angeles — or so he said.

Neither the San Diego Police Department or the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department could show any official report that linked an increase in crime to the locations of these medical marijuana facilities, according to the Imperial Beach Patch.

The Police Department has conducted a number of reviews on the information and the department has continued to come up empty handed, with no evidence of any increase in criminal activity in these areas.

“Since our opening in mid-February [2011], we have had no incidents or problems with our community, patients, law enforcement, neighbors or local businesses,” said Pat with the American Treatment Advancement Cooperative Inc., or ATA, who declined to state his last name.

This information is supported by evidence that has been provided by the San Diego Police Department’s Narcotics Division. Medical marijuana co-ops reported a large boom in operations between May 1, 2009, and April 30, 2011 and during this time no marijuana crime related activity was reported at the ATA.

Throughout the last two years, five medical marijuana dispensaries that border Imperial Beach reported no crime related to the cultivation of their product, selling or possession of medical marijuana.

Data was provided, specifically on marijuana related offenses, from May of 2009 to April of 2011 by Sheriff’s spokesman Mark Walters. During this time, there were more than 1,300 drug-related charges in the city of Imperial Beach. More than 500 of them were for possession of marijuana, seven for selling marijuana and nine for cultivating the substance. These charges resulted in more than 450 arrests on marijuana related offenses. These charges included 55 juvenile offenders.

There are currently zero marijuana dispensaries operating in Imperial Beach.

According to the San Diego Police Department, crime statistics report that the overall crime in the area is at its lowest point since 1969. It has been on a constant decline in 2003.

“If we can come up with proper legislation we feel is adequate for Imperial Beach, the moratorium could be lifted,” Mayor Jim Janney said at the July meeting.

Back in December of 2010, City Manager Gary Brown recommended an outright ban of dispensaries for these reasons:

-Their presence could possibly result in an increase amount in crime.

-Dispensaries are easily accessible in San Diego.

-“The complexity of regulation and enforcement will place a costly burden on the city’s limited resources.”

Patients and a coalition of medical marijuana co-ops recently submitted a referendum that consisted of more than 47,000 signatures that forced council to amend the ordinance or let voters determine the fate of these co-ops through a special election. A decision regarding this matter is expected late this month. The group Stop the Ban IB is currently promoting a letter writing campaign to achieve this goal.
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June 18, 2011

Battle Continues Between Government Officials and Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles

By Cannabis Law Group

Medical marijuana was legalized by California fifteen years ago. Still, to this day, lawmakers are trying to regulate and tax the billion-dollar industry as medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and elsewhere throughout the state continue to fight for survival.

Recently, lawmakers made a number of attempts to regulate the locations of these pot shops. They banned them from being located with residential neighborhoods and school zones and gave local officials the authority to bust in and shut them down. Proposals to reduce the penalties for illegal pot cultivation and to protect medical marijuana users from workplace discrimination were also rejected, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys understand that the government is using every bit of its energy to regulate and ultimately shut down this industry. They’re regulating the locations of these stores, throwing unjust taxes at them and violently raiding their shops for minor code violations. It seems we’ve reached the point of no return in the battle of medical marijuana against the government. It is only with the proper knowledge and a tactical approach that medical marijuana can prevail in this battle.

“You have medical marijuana dispensaries in residential areas where you have children exposed to secondhand smoke from pot smoking,” said Sen. Louis Correa (D-Santa Ana). He has proposed legislation, SB 847, that would ban dispensaries within 600 feet of homes and apartments. It recently passed the state Senate.

City leaders, law enforcement and lawmakers continue to justify these “necessary” crackdowns saying that they’re needed because of the hundreds of newly-opened medical marijuana dispensaries that turned on their open-sign with little to no oversight. These recent shop openings, officials believe, are a direct result of a moratorium that was imposed in 2007. Now, shops across the state are suing cities that step up their enforcement efforts saying that they have no right to regulate an activity that was approved by voters.

“As usual, legislators feel like they’ve gotta get tough,” said Dale Gieringer, state coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “If there’s a problem, we have to pass more laws for people to break. It’s classic legislative syndrome.”

There are somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 dispensaries that are open for business across the state, according to Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills) isn’t too thrilled about these statistics as he was reported saying that there are now “more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks.”

“The inadequacy of medical marijuana laws has created a Wild West lawlessness,” said Blumenfield.

Blumenfield recently proposed a bill, AB 1300, that would clarify the rights of a city to regulate dispensaries. It easily passed the Assembly and is waiting on an action in the Senate.

A separate bill, SB 676, that aims to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp, a non-psychoactive variety of marijuana was barely made it through. Senate. Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) proposed the law and had to reassure his lawmakers that the hemp was not a drug.

“Even with 80% of Californians supporting medical cannabis use, the Legislature traditionally has been very frightened by it, which is nonsensical to me,” Leno said.
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June 16, 2011

New Bill to Hold Down Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles

By Cannabis Law Group

It’s no secret that cities are having a tough time regulating dispensaries, especially our medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. It’s also no surprise that after a number of lawsuits challenging these city crackdowns, a new state law has turned up aiming to allow municipalities to put their foot down on these shops.

California’s AB 1300 that does just that, and the proposal recently passed the state Assembly. It was originally introduced by local Democratic Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, according to LA Weekly. He says that the ambiguity over who has authority over these marijuana collectives has only led to higher crime and illegal sales.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys recognize that this is the last thing we need in our area. If the last two years have been any indication of what is to come, our medical marijuana dispensaries have quite the fight against unnecessary and frivolous laws aimed at regulating the industry. Previous attempts at regulation clearly indicate that cities are incapable of passing rational, logical laws that don’t violate patient rights under the state’s medical marijuana law. The industry must continue to fight back in hopes of one day operating on a fair and level playing field.

This new bill says that your locality can adopt “local ordinances that regulate the location, operation, or establishment of a medical marijuana cooperative or collective …” Basically, it would give the cities power over location, hours, licensing, possession, cultivation, transportation, processing, or use of limited amounts of marijuana, as specified of collective operations. Ironically, these proposed regulations were one of the complaints opponents of Prop. 19 made last fall. They concluded that it would establish too much local control over cannabis.

In addition, it clearly states that cities have the right to put local shops out of business, which is nothing new for our shops here in Los Angeles as the city continues to go after dispensaries for “out-of-compliance” charges.

The new bill was approved 53-1 last week and will now go to the Senate. The dissenting vote came from San Francisco’s Tom Ammiano, a pro-pot advocate. He objected to the lack of the word “dispensary” in the language, which he said would further recognize the legitimacy of the storefronts.

This is a continuous battle with no end in sight. The industry is continually fighting to retain what little rights medical marijuana patients and dispensaries have left.

If you disagree with this law as much as our local medical marijuana shops do, you are urged speak out and change it. It’s important to remember that your chances of being heard are much better in your town than in the state capital. Oftentimes, it is our state governments that continue to run our shops out of town. We need to keep fighting for our rights before officials yank them away.
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