L.A. Medical-Marijuana Outlets Defy City

Two weeks after the "ban," dispensaries are waiting to hear from their lawyers

Comments (0) By Clarissa Wei and Dennis Romero Thursday, Jun 17 2010

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"As long as [they're] in compliance with state law, there should be no reason why they can't engage in delivery or operate a private patient collective," he said. "At most you'd have people come by to pick up their portion of the harvest. But it wouldn't be a storefront as such."

Melrose-area resident Peter Nichols, who co-founded the Melrose Action Neighborhood Watch, said he voted for the 1996 initiative that approved marijuana for medical use. But he has argued that the number of pot shops in his neighborhood — he counts 14 — is too many, and that the voters never approved this kind of commercial, retail, and for-profit environment.

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With many dispensaries still open or morphing into delivery services since City Hall essentially banned 429 of the 583 shops, Nichols noted, "I'm not surprised. Is this just another ploy to skirt the law? It's just hard to believe the city has still failed on this policy."

L.A. local government might face other problems, beyond the battle of words breaking out over whether city rules trump state law, and whether delivery is illegal.

Some businesses said they were wrongly targeted and aren't weed dispensaries at all. A man who said he was the owner of the Green House Smoke Shop on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice claimed that the "district attorney has written a letter of apology" for including his shop on the closure list (the document was actually put together by the city attorney). "They really have us wrong," said the man, who did not want to be identified.

A representative of the Green Medical Group in Canoga Park added, "The list is wrong. We are a doctor's office" that provides "medical-marijuana recommendations."

A man who identified himself as Robert answered at the Medical Advisory Center, a business in the Park Mile area of Wilshire Boulevard, which was cited by the City Attorney's Office as nonlegit. "We're not a dispensary," he said. "We're a [counseling] consolation center. ... We already talked to the D.A."

At Clinic, located across the street from Venice High School, a representative denied that pot is sold there, saying, "There was a mistake with the City Attorney's Office. We are not a medical-marijuana clinic."

Meanwhile, some dispensaries that have closed down made the best of the situation.

"We had a big party and we invited all of our patients and sold them the remaining [pot]," a worker at Sherman Way Collective, who only wanted to be identified as Billy K., said. "Whatever is left over is for personal use."

He quickly added that he is a patient himself.

Contact the writers at djromero@laweekly.com.