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Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries have enough to worry about with the risk of federal raids leading to criminal action often necessitating help from a Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyer. Unfortunately, a disturbing new story indicates that there may be times when state law enforcement officers also cause serious problems for medical marijuana dispensaries, sometimes without justification.

According to KTLA 5, two former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have been charged for allegedly planting firearms at a medical marijuana dispensary in South Los Angeles. This was reportedly done in order to justify making an arrest.
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Medical marijuana has been legal in California since voters passed a ballot proposition in 1996, but legislatures continue to be unable to leave well enough alone. Despite the fact that there is no widespread evidence of young people abusing marijuana throughout the state, Senator Lou Correa, a Democrat from Santa Ana, is proposing stricter regulation of medical marijuana that would especially burden patients under the age of 21.

Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers know that many people face prosecution because of their involvement with medical marijuana, despite its benefits. Laws need to be loosened on the federal level and kept the same or relaxed in the state in order to make it easier for sick people to get the medicine they need. If the law proposed by Senator Lou Correa were to go into effect, it would be a step backward in the fight to ensure medical marijuana is treated the same as any other legitimate method of treating symptoms or sicknesses.
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Some families are desperate to relieve the pain their children are feeling in anyway possible. If that requires making some changes then it is well worth it.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers know that medicinal marijuana can be helpful to patients who suffer from a variety of conditions.

Even though 20 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, the debate over actual use of products containing cannabis is a long way from settled.
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The war on drugs was lost long ago, but apparently California Gov. Jerry Brown feels the need to press on with a pointless battle.

Los Angeles marijuana lawyers had been closely watching the movement of Senate Bill 649, which had wound its way through approval in both state legislative bodies before being decisively rejected by the governor.

Under existing law, illegal possession of certain controlled substances, including opiates, opium, opium derivatives, mescaline, peyote, cocaine and marijuana, is a felony punishable by a minimum of either 16 months or 2 or 3 years. What SB 649 would have done was make the illegal possession of any of those substances a wobbler. What that means is that prosecutors and judges would have discretion over whether to charge possession of such substances as either a misdemeanor or a felony. As a misdemeanor, offenders would face a maximum of one year behind bars, though it would be possible that the person could serve little to no jail time at all.
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There was once a time when trying to board a flight with a stash marijuana would have landed you in jail, facing serious felony charges and possibly years in federal prison.

Ok, we’re still in that time.

However, our California marijuana criminal defense lawyers understand that some agents with the Transportation Security Administration have unofficially relaxed their policy toward patients who have a prescription for pot.
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Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers have been successful in obtaining an injunction prohibiting the city from enforcing an ordinance that would force the closure of the majority of its 500 medical marijuana dispensaries.

Our L.A. Dispensary Defense Attorneys represent more than a dozen medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. We believe there is strength in numbers and urge you to contact the CANNABIS LAW GROUP to fight these local ordinances, which we believe violate state law and the rights of marijuana patients and businesses that are operating legally under state law.

Administration of the city’s marijuana ordinance — which passed this summer and would limit licensed marijuana businesses to between 50 and 75 — was already in a shambles, forcing the city to extend the deadline for compliance by another six months. The L.A. Times reports this latest ruling is a “setback in (the city’s) faltering drive to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries.”

The Times said the decision by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr leaves the city with limited power to regulate marijuana dispensaries.

Mohr’s ruling acknowledged “there is a good chance that a large number of collectives could open once this injunction takes effect.” But he said the injunction was warranted because the dispensaries that sued the city are highly likely to prevail at trial.”

It is the second ruling this month to take aim at the local city and county ordinances that are cropping up all over California. As we reported on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, a court ruling was upheld, finding that the City of Anaheim cannot rely upon federal law in banning medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in that city.

Since enacting one of the state’s most convoluted and complex ordinances, the city has come under heavy fire and has done a poor job of determining which dispensaries qualify to remain open under its own ordinance. More than 100 dispensaries have filed at least 42 lawsuits.

The city attorney’s office was anything but gracious in defeat and indicated the city would likely go back to the drawing board in an attempt to use the judge’s rulings as a means to draft an ordinance that might withstand legal attack.

Councilman Ed Reyes indicated he planned to have new proposals as soon as today. “My sense of urgency is that great,” he said.

The city is facing huge challenges, not the least of which is getting its council to pay attention to something other than pot smokers. It currently faces a budget deficit of more than $200 million.
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The state’s marijuana legalization effort may have failed because of a lack of support from medical marijuana patients in California, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana defense lawyers have written about this issue before. While legalizing marijuana in California would likely take some of the undue attention away from medical marijuana collectives and growers — who are still fighting for their rights 15 years after medical marijuana became legal in California — it could also invite additional competition.

Big Tobacco, for example, was rumored to be purchasing farmland in preparation for passage of a law legalizing marijuana. And the City of Oakland voted to explore the possibility of backing an industrial growing operation. Consequently, medical marijuana farmers were worried about their livelihood and local dispensaries were worried about being put out of business by pot WalMart.

In reality, we think the existing marijuana industry would have been in the best position to capitalize on legalization and that marijuana legalization would have taken some of the heat off the medical marijuana industry, at least in the short run. But the reality is many state and local officials are not obeying the medical marijuana law so there is little or no reason to think they would honor the rights of recreational users.
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The CANNABIS LAW GROUP presented the last in a serious of arguments on Wednesday that present a host of legal and constitutional challenges to the City of Los Angeles’ medical marijuana dispensary ordinance.

The judge took the matter into consideration and is scheduled to issue his ruling on Nov. 29.

While our Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers would never presume to guess how a judge will rule, we believe our arguments were sound, that he listened to many of them, and that he could decide to strike down part or all of the city ordinance that aims to close the vast majority of the city’s 500 medical marijuana dispensaries.

Should the judge strike down the entire ordinance, the city has indicated it will start from scratch in an attempt to get a new ordinance approved. Depending on the ruling, it may also be appealed by either the city or the collectives. In still another scenario, our marijuana dispensary lawyers may be able to come to an agreement with the city that is acceptable to the legally operating businesses we represent.

“At this time, no one knows for sure how the Judge will rule except maybe the judge himself,” said Damian Nassiri, a partner in the CANNABIS LAW GROUP. The group is representing more than a dozen dispensaries and collectives throughout the Los Angeles area.
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The City of Fresno and Fresno County are now trying to regulate the legal growth of marijuana outdoors, ABC30 reported.

Our Los Angeles marijuana defense attorneys frequently report on the efforts by local city and county government to regulate the retail sale of medical marijuana through dispensary and collectives. The regulation of its legal growth plays out more frequently throughout the central part of the state.

The proposed rules come in the wake of the shooting of a man who was allegedly stealing marijuana from a private pot garden located behind a secure privacy fence — the culprits drove through the fence with a pickup truck.

Marijuana advocates say the police need to do a better job of protecting a legal crop. Meanwhile, the county ordinance seeks to force the growth of marijuana indoors. City officials were warned about overstepping their bounds and reminded that Proposition 19 could legalize the issue statewide.

It has since been reported that a group of growers is taking the county to court after the emergency ordinance was passed. Instead, of making them safer, the growers say they are now afraid of reporting illegal activity for fear of losing their plants.

Four growers are seeking an injunction in court. County Supervisor Henry Perea told ABC30 News “We’re not saying you can’t grow medical marijuana … we’re just going to regulate how, where and when you can grow it.”
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California voters support the marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot, according to a new poll published in the L.A. Times.

As the Los Angeles marijuana defense lawyers at the CANNABIS LAW GROUP continue to fight on behalf of marijuana dispensaries being forced to close as a result of the new city ordinance, we are closely watching the legalization issue. The Los Angeles Times/USC poll found that voters support marijuana legalization by a margin of 49 percent to 41 percent, with 10 percent still undecided.

The November vote could go either way, as about one-third of those in support say they favor the measure “somewhat.”

Dan Schnur, director of USC’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, note that those who support the measure are starting off with a nice lead. However, initiatives that start with fewer than 50 percent in support have historically had a difficult time winning passage.

The poll also revealed that men favor passage, while women, particularly married women, are against the measure by a margin of 49 percent to 40 percent. And many say they are supporting the measure as a way to generate tax revenue. Advocates say legalizing marijuana could raise billions in tax dollars — opponents dispute those figures.

Among voters, 42 percent believe the tax estimates, while 38 percent think they are wildly exaggerated.

The November initiative allows cities and counties to legalize and tax marijuana sales — but not the state. Supporters in Los Angeles County are most inclined to see the measure as a way to plug holes in municipal budgets.
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