Skid Row in L.A. is arguably the nation's largest homeless encampment. And it's a place where you can score just about anything, from crack to heroin.

Recently a marijuana dispensary added high-grade bud to the produce available to the down-and-out. The city of Los Angeles and the Central City East Association weren't happy with this particular drug retailer, as you can imagine.

And while dispensaries in L.A. have been hanging on like zombies even as the city declared most of them illegal, in the case of the awesomely named Green Day Collective …

… authorities are claiming victory against these alleged American idiots.

Today the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich boasted that the Skid Row pot shop on East Sixth Street near Gladys Park is out of business thanks to its efforts.


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Yeah not only was Green Day near an embattled park and sometime outdoor drug market, but it was near many a rehab center along the row. It would sort of be like if Dr. Conrad Murray moved next door to Lindsay Lohan.

The City Attorney's office filed an abatement suit against it in June alleging, according to C.A. spokesman Frank Mateljan, “violations of the City's Zoning Code, the state Health and Safety Code and Business and Professions Code was filed against the property owners, Dennis Shiraga and Hideko Shiraga, and the marijuana shop, Green Day Collective Inc.”

This month the shop's owners agreed to close the doors and promised not to operate a dispensary in L.A. ever again, according to Mateljan. And the building's owner had to pony up $20,000.

Estella Lopez, executive director of the Central City East Association:

Skid row is a testament to the devastating impact of substance abuse. It is in our shelters, missions, and horrifically, on our sidewalks every single day. It leads to violence, disease and death. We have more social services here than anywhere, trying valiantly to restore every person to a life without addiction. The absolute last thing this neighborhood needs is a marijuana dispensary …

A warning for pot shop entrepreneurs downtown? Green Day wasn't the only dispensary in the area …

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

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