Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
LA Pot Shops Go Up in Smoke: City Council Votes 14-0 for Ban
Photo by eyetwist via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr.
()
Los Angeles medical marijuana patients: you might want to take advantage of using your local marijuana dispensary while you still can. The days of unfettered expansion and operation of dispensaries within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles may quickly be coming to a close.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously yesterday to place a ban on marijuana shops in the city, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Letters ordering all 762 registered dispensaries to close are being sent immediately.
The specifics of the ban are a bit, well, hazy. Medical marijuana patients still have avenues for care, just not through dispensaries -- they can grow and share pot in groups no larger than three people. Activists, of course, point out that the average patient has neither the time nor the money to cultivate the drug at home.
Support for LAist comes from
Making the picture even more unclear, the City Council voted to develop a law that would include a long talked-about statute -- allowing the 170 or so "original" dispensaries to remain open. The Council appears to be most interested in shuttering dispensaries that allegedly act as hubs for crime and make surrounding neighborhoods uneasy. However, some research shows that shutting down dispensaries may actually aid crime. (Eds note: yup, that study got retracted until further notice.)
While the Council's vote is certainly not good news for marijuana advocates, even the ban's staunchest advocates recognize that the city will have a hard time closing down all of LA's pot shops. To be sure, activists aren't going down without a fight. As the Times notes: "Medical marijuana activists... jeered when the vote came out. More than a dozen Los Angeles Police Department officers were called in to quell them."
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist