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L.A. County To Shut Down Marijuana Dispensaries In Unincorporated Areas
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L.A. is moving to shut down medical marijuana shops located in unincorporated parts of the county. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 yesterday to work on the crackdown, LA Weekly reports. In these parts of the county—which includes Marina Del Rey and East L.A.—dispensaries have been banned since 2011. The motion was proposed by Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Hilda Solis.
To do this, Antonovich has proposed a Medical Marijuana Dispensary Enforcement Team comprised of officials from the Department of Regional Planning, County Council, LASD, the District's Attorney's office and the Treasurer Tax Collection, according to City News Service.
"These illegal operations have routinely attracted a criminal element that threaten community safety and disrupt neighborhoods," he claims.
Meanwhile, City Attorney Mike Feuer is working on shutting down SpeedWeed, a delivery service that brings marijuana straight to the doors of patients with valid medical marijuana cards. Feuer claims that SpeedWeed is a violation of Proposition D, which passed in 2013 and limits the total number of dispensaries in the City.
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This all means that patients who live in unincorporated areas will have to go further to find a collective they can legally use.
About 56-60% of Californian voters support the legalization of marijuana, according to the OC Register. Pro-marijuana activists are hoping to put the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA)—which advocates for the legalization of marijuana for those 21 and older—on the Nov. 8 ballot this year. So far, they've raised over $2 million and collected about a fourth of the needed 365,880 signatures required by April 26. Of those funds, $1 million comes from Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and former president of Facebook, according to the L.A. Times. If California joined Washington state, D.C., Oregon, Colorado and Alaska, it would be the largest station in the U.S. to legalize marijuana.
AUMA spokesperson Jason Kinney told the O.C. Register, "I think everyone views California as the super bowl of this movement. Winning here would have an impact on the rest of the country."
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