Articles Posted in Los Angeles Marijuana Dispensaries

Los Angeles County is moving forward with a plan to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county, the L.A. Times reported.

If war was not declared when the City of Los Angeles moved to close three-quarters of its marijuana dispensaries, the Los Angeles marijuana dispensary lawyers at the CANNABIS LAW GROUP believe this latest sign is sure evidence that the medical marijuana industry in Southern California best be ready to aggressively fight for its survival. Our L.A. medical marijuana attorneys represent more than a dozen dispensaries in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. We offer reasonable legal fees and urge dispensaries to seek high-quality, aggressive and experienced legal representation against these local ordinances, which seek to force the closure of businesses that are operating legally under California law.

We believe there is strength in numbers and the only real defense is a vigorous offense.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors moved to enact the ban, which will cover unincorporated areas of the county and impact a population of 1.5 million people. The motion is the first step toward reversing the county’s existing policy, which permitted marijuana collectives with strict requirements regarding their location. The existing policy, which was enacted four years ago, forbids dispensaries from being located with 1,000 feet of churches, daycare centers, libraries, playgrounds, schools and other specified areas.

To date, the county has not approved a single dispensary in an unincorporated area. The supervisor’s action directs county staff to prepare an ordinance to implement the ban.

Some supervisors were concerned that more dispensaries could be on the way in the wake of the City of Los Angeles’ ordinance, which is seeking to close more than 400 dispensaries. Our attorneys have filed numerous legal challenges to that ban.
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A judge has delayed a decision on whether to prevent Los Angeles from enforcing its new medical marijuana ordinance, the L.A. Times reported. The delay leaves hundreds of business owners and patients hopeful, but with an uncertain future.

The Los Angeles marijuana dispensary lawyers at the CANNABIS LAW GROUP represent more than a dozen dispensaries and collectives in L.A. and the surrounding area. Attorneys for the group believe there is strength in numbers and are offering reasonable legal fees to Los Angeles marijuana collectives that wish to fight for their rights.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr said he believed the city’s ordinance is imperfect, but said he was not certain that the defects violated the rights of collectives ordered to shut down when the ordinance went into effect on June 7.

As we continue to report on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, the city is attempting to force the closure of three-quarters of the 600 dispensaries operating in Los Angeles. The new ordinance attempts to shut down all legally operating dispensaries established after November 2007 and establishes a host of regulations many older businesses will be unable to meet. Those include restrictions on businesses located near parks, schools or residential areas, as well as change-in-ownership restrictions.

Our Los Angeles dispensary attorneys have requested injunctions on numerous legal grounds and are prepared to seek economic damages if these businesses, which are operating legally under California law and dispensing medical marijuana to patients, are forced to close. We are among the attorneys arguing that the arbitrary date established by the city ordinance violates the due process and equal protection rights of legitimate businesses that would be forced to close.
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The slayings at separate Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries on Thursday appear unrelated, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Our Los Angeles marijuana dispensary lawyers are concerned that the high-profile attack on these businesses by the City of Los Angeles could lead to continued problems. We continue to offer aggressive legal representation of dispensaries throughout the Los Angeles area and take these tragic killings as another unwelcome sign of legal businesses that are under siege, in part because of the Los Angeles ordinance aimed at forcing them out of business.

Unnamed sources within the police department told the Times that significant differences in the two crimes have led investigators to believe that they are not related. The first incident occurred at 4:15 p.m. on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park at Higher Path Holistic Care. Four suspects reportedly entered the facility, forced several employees to lay down, and ransacked the business in search of drugs and money. Despite the fact that employees did not resist, the suspects shot them. One employee was killed and the other critically injured. About five hours later and a few miles away, the owner of the Hollywood Holistic II dispensary in the 1600 block of North El Centro Avenue walked into the store and found the body of an employee. The employee was stabbed but no drugs or money appear to have been taken during the second attack.

Detectives speculate the killer may have intended to rob the store but fled instead. Or the killing may have occurred for some unknown or unrelated reason.

The attacks at the dispensaries concern operators and patient advocates, who worry that the dispensaries may be targeted by violent gangs. Yamileth Bolanos, president of the Greater Los Angeles Collectives Alliance, criticized a provision in the city’s new marijuana ordinance that requires dispensaries to have security guards who are not armed.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley blamed the crimes on the known presence of guns and cash at the businesses.
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More than 170 medical marijuana dispensaries have notified the City of Los Angeles that they intend to stay open in the wake of the new city ordinance that is forcing the closure of more than 400 collectives, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Los Angeles marijuana dispensary attorneys at the CANNABIS LAW GROUP have filed numerous lawsuits on behalf of dispensaries being forced to close. The law firm provides aggressive representation to collectives at all stages of the legal process and will fight for the rights of collectives that believe they are operating legally but are still targeted for closure.

Here is a list of dispensaries that have filed a notice of their intent to stay open. The city must now determine whether these businesses qualify to remain open under the new ordinance. Our Los Angeles dispensary lawyers anticipate many of these businesses will face additional legal hassle and that the city will find reasons to reject numerous applications.

The new ordinance forces the closure of more than 400 dispensaries that have opened since late 2007, while allowing older businesses to continue operation. However, those businesses must also comply with other mandates of the ordinance, which prohibit the businesses from operating near schools, parks or residential areas.

City officials are also reviewing documents to ensure that dispensaries allowed to remain in operation are still operating under the original owner, have been in continuous operation and have moved no more than once. So far, city clerks have determined that 70 of the businesses meet that criteria.

No word yet on how long the process will take. City ineptness indicates it could be a lengthy process — the clerk’s office has already admitted that it neglected to collect information about current management of the dispensaries and is now going back through the paperwork by hand and calling the businesses one at a time to collect the information.

As we reported recently on our Marijuana Lawyers Blog, police are clearly overwhelmed and have better things to do than to respond to the dozens, if not hundreds, of reports of dispensaries that have remained open in alleged violation of the ordinance.
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Our Los Angeles marijuana dispensary attorneys took notice of LA Weekly’s report on the absurdity of the new city ordinance that has targeted 439 businesses for closure.

A West Los Angeles council chairman and an ABC news truck parked across the street from a still operating dispensary on a recent afternoon. The councilman called the city attorney’s office, which reported the business was in noncompliance and had already been reported to the police. He called police himself; a squad car responded about four hours later. After going inside to speak with the business representatives, the officers returned to the street, told the ABC news crew that their truck was parked illegally, and left.

The ABC News video of the incident is available here.

This dispensary is arguing it was improperly put on the city’s closure list. The business contends it has been registered since 2005 and is thus entitled to operate under the new ordinance.

The city continues to promise a crackdown on dispensaries that remain open in violation of the ordinance.

The CANNABIS LAW GROUP has filed numerous lawsuits on behalf of dispensaries throughout the Los Angeles area and offers reasonable legal fees to join the fight.

Here is the list of Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries ordered to close.

Map of marijuana dispensaries forced to close.

Map of Los Angeles dispensaries allowed to remain open.
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The LA Weekly reported that the majority of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries remained open at the end of the first week of a new city ordinance that requires more than 400 of the shops to close.

As our Los Angeles marijuana dispensary attorneys have been reporting here on Marijuana Lawyer Blog, we have filed numerous lawsuits on behalf of these legal businesses. We strongly believe that the City of Los Angeles does not have the right to close businesses that are operating legally under California law. And the unfair nature of the ordinance — which allows more than 100 businesses to remain open while closing more than 400 others based on an arbitrary date, is also an issue we are arguing in court.

Our Los Angeles marijuana dispensary lawyers believe there is strength in numbers. The CANNABIS LAW GROUP offers reasonable legal fees and urges business owners to join in the fight.

The operators and landlords of 439 retailers have received letters from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office warning that violation of the ordinance could result in a fine of up to $2,500 a day and six months in jail. Most of the city’s dispensaries are ineligible to operate because they did not receive approval before a November 2007 date established as part of the ordinance. Of the remaining 130, many are either not in business anymore or can’t comply with other rules of the ordinance, including a prohibition against operating a dispensary adjacent to a residential area.

The LA Weekly reports some of the dispensaries are now identifying themselves as members-only facilities while others contend they have been wrongly classified and are operating as therapy centers or related businesses.

As our Los Angeles marijuana defense lawyers reported last week, a growing number of businesses are reorganizing as delivery services.

Meanwhile, city officials continue to promise a crackdown. They contend members-only services are illegal and Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley said delivery of marijuana is illegal in the State of California, regardless of the city’s rules.
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While authorities are crying foul about marijuana delivery services, many of the Los Angeles dispensaries forced to close to comply with the new city ordinance could be seeking to remain in business as delivery services.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys continue to fight on behalf of dispensaries forced to close as a result of the Los Angeles city ordinance that arbitrarily closes 400 businesses while permitting another 100 to remain open. Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News reports a flourishing business is being done among pot delivery services. The services bring medical marijuana directly to patients.

Hundreds of these mobile dispensaries are cropping up in advertisements and on the Internet. Some are using regular mail service, while others utilize private prescription-drug couriers.

“These delivery services are starting to grab more and more market share,” said Allen St. Pierre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which advocates legalization. The delivery services are becoming more popular, particularly in areas where dispensaries are not established or have been banned by local ordinances. The Mercury News reports a total of 758 delivery services were advertised on Weedmaps.com in April, triple the number available 18 months ago and up 39 percent since February.

More than half of the couriers advertise services in the Los Angeles area — where the number of services has jumped from 110 to 161 since February.

A total of 129 cities and nine California counties have banned medical marijuana dispensaries. The bans have led to flourishing delivery services. Yet authorities have been unable to point to legal guidelines that address delivery of marijuana by courier or mail.

Weedmaps reports that many of the dispensaries forced to close because of the Los Angeles ordinance are in the process of rebranding themselves as delivery services.

Opponents contend that delivery violates a number of laws, including the 1996 Compassionate Use Act that legalized medical marijuana for qualified patients in California.
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The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has released a list of 439 marijuana dispensaries it says must shut the doors to comply with the new city ordinance that went into effect this week.

The Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers at the CANNABIS LAW GROUP represent numerous dispensaries in pending lawsuits over the forced closures. We are offering reasonable legal fees to dispensaries that want to join the fight; we believe there is strength in numbers and will continue to fight on behalf of these businesses, which should be permitted to continue to legally operate under California law.

The ordinance forces the closure of dispensaries that opened after November 2007 and also prohibits a dispensary from being located within 1,000 feet of schools parks or libraries. A last-minute addition to the ordinance also prohibits dispensaries from being located adjacent or across from a residential property. Those restrictions could force about half the estimated 130 older dispensaries to close. Eligible businesses must prove they are in compliance by next week.

The city has reported most of the targeted marijuana collectives have closed as ordered. Violators face a fine of up to $2,500 a day and six months in jail. Violators could face raids by the city in response to reports from police officers, building inspectors and residents about dispensaries that are operating in violation of the ordinance.

Here is the list of Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries ordered to close.

Map of marijuana dispensaries forced to close.

Map of Los Angeles dispensaries allowed to remain open.
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