Last Member Drive of 2025!

Your year-end tax-deductible gift powers our local newsroom. Help raise $1 million in essential funding for LAist by December 31.
$683,005 of $1,000,000 goal
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

Los Angeles continues crack down on illegal pot shops

A man walks past a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles,CA on November 2, 2010. Californians will vote today on whether to make their famously laid-back US state the world's first to legalize all marijuana consumption, cultivation and trade. Growing and selling marijuana for medicinal purposes has been legal here since 1996, but a hard-fought referendum held the same day as congressional and gubernatorial races would take it a step further. Proposition 19 -- one of a series of referendums held on November 2 -- would allow people aged 21 and over to possess up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana and grow up to 25 square feet (2.32 square meter) of pot plants.           AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
A man walks past a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles,CA on November 2, 2010.
(
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
)

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Listen 0:49
Los Angeles continues crack down on illegal pot shops

We're now more than eight months into California's legalization of recreational marijuana. But there are still illegal pot shops all over Los Angeles.

On Friday morning, city attorney Mike Feuer announced that LAPD has helped his office bring forward criminal cases against more than 500 people allegedly involved with illegal pot businesses.

The crackdown comes as licensed shop owners say they're struggling to compete with the city's many illegal shops, which are selling much cheaper product by avoiding taxes and regulations. 

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right