Los Angeles Threatens to Eradicate Medical Marijuana

First, we have had the Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) placing a moratorium on dispensaries, meaning no one can open a dispensary during the time period the moratorium is in place so that the LA City Council can "write the MMJ regulations for the city of LA.”

But after two years the Council still has done nothing of the sort. Then they get pissed because all of a sudden there are 500 dispensaries opening up in LA, which the Council isn’t happy about because, had they written the regulations, the city could’ve made over $4,000,000 with an $8,000 opening fee like the one in Oakland, CA.

So, with so many dispensaries open, they tried to shut down all of the ones that opened after the ICO under a hardship clause – that the LA City Council themselves said these places could do! (Where do you think dispensaries got the permits to begin with?)

So, after many dispensaries’ hardship applications were “reviewed” and denied and many shut down, the Council gave us the impression that if you fought and stayed open, like my dispensary, you would be golden, and if you closed down – well, sucks for you.

We thought that this bullshit was done. That they realized hey, medical marijuana has been legit in California for 13 years now, let’s let them be. But nooooo....

Now, we are being threatened with raids in which the LAPD will join forces with the feds and SWAT and they bum rush every dispensary, kick in its door, scare the shit out of people with their guns, and take all the meds, business computers, paperwork, patient information, and cash, and put all employees / managers / owners in jail and charge them with felonies, and in the case of the poor owner of Organica who got raided a little while back, they shoot your dog! Fucking nuts!

So, now we all have to prepare for this raid bullshit because all of a sudden every single dispensary in LA is deemed illegal, though they are running the same way as dispensaries in other regions of California.

This is complete bullshit! This has to be stopped before lives are ruined, businesses are ruined and more innocent dogs are shot!

All this is going to do is turn LA into an illegal underground marijuana community where patients have to buy from street dealers, and the poor, the seriously ill, and the elderly patients will be too scared to get their meds from the streets so they will suffer and die.

This also proves the point that even if you do it right, do it legit by establishing legal marijuana in your state, you still aren’t protected from the bias against marijuana in this country and the unjust lengths some law enforcement will go to just to eradicate the “evil” marijuana plant.

Here’s the letter sent out to the LAPD regarding training on the eradication of medical marijuana dispensaries.

SaRah Newton is Miss High Times 2007.