Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jul 2013
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Sandy Banks

THE POT SHOP SOAP OPERA

Some Obey Orders to Shut Down While Others Wait and See

It was a going-out-of-business sale that only a pothead could love.

Cannabis-laced brownies, chocolate bars and peanut butter cups were 
half-price. Sleep-inducing indica buds sold out quickly. And 
discounted sativa was moving well among patients whose medical needs 
must have called for a buzz.

I was on hand as Tampa Wellness packed up to shut down, disappointing 
customers who had trickled in last weekend from as far as Palmdale to 
get medical marijuana from this small dispensary in a Reseda strip mall.

The closure was sudden and not by choice. A note taped to the shop's 
blacked out front window Sunday made that point: "Due to recent 
elections regarding E, D and F, Tampa Wellness has been forced to 
shut its doors by the city attorney. We have appreciated the support 
of our clients and look forward to new beginnings."

E, D and F were competing medical marijuana measures on the Los 
Angeles city ballot in May. Most dispensary owners supported F, which 
would have allowed an unlimited number of outlets but scrutinized 
them more tightly.

Los Angeles voters, however, approved D - which limits the city's 
dispensaries to the 135 or so that were in business when the council 
began trying to regulate them in 2007.

The key word is trying. And failing, mostly.

That's why Los Angeles seems to have a giant green cross on every block.

And why, 17 years after Californians made marijuana legal for medical 
use - the city still is dealing with fly-by-night dispensaries, 
wishy-washy politicians and feuding law enforcement officials who 
don't agree on what the law is, much less how to enforce it.

And why it's hard to know whether this latest crackdown will launch 
another battle in a war of wills, or usher in an era of peace that 
benefits patients and collectives.

Tampa Wellness received one of 1,700 letters sent out by the city 
attorney last month, warning dispensary owners and their landlords 
that they could go to jail if they don't shut their doors.

Assistant City Atty. Asha Greenberg called it a courtesy letter, 
notifying businesses that opened after 2007 that "the passage of Prop 
D [makes] their continued operation illegal."

Another collective owner, Frank Sheftel also got a letter, even 
though his cozy Toluca Lake Collective (TLC) in North Hollywood has 
been in business since 2006.

His shop, which has a food pantry and offers hospice care, wound up 
in the illegal group because of a paperwork glitch, Sheftel said. 
"One list says I'm [approved]; another list says I'm not."

That kind of confusion has allowed what began as "compassionate care" 
to turn Los Angeles into a place that some city officials believe has 
more storefront pot dispensaries than Starbucks coffee shops.

City lawmakers avoided the issue for years as hundreds of 
dispensaries cropped up, many run by owners who cared less about 
patients than profits. While council members dithered, local 
prosecutors took a hard line: Any sale of marijuana to anyone was a crime.

Dispensaries fought back in court and the city backed down. 
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department and federal Drug 
Enforcement Administration embarked on campaigns of their own: 
raiding shops, confiscating proceeds and hauling customers and 
employees to jail.

"We've used a tremendous amount of resources to go after the pot 
outlets, and look where we are," Sheftel noted. "It's all to no avail."

In fact, dispensaries have grown so accustomed to the city's stops 
and starts that some are ignoring the recent letters warning them to shut down.

I spent Saturday driving around the west San Fernando Valley, 
stopping at every green cross I saw. At a few shops, employees told 
me the letters have scared their landlords into forcing them to move 
out. But others said they planned to stick around; they have seen 
these letters before.

"That's the problem," Sheftel said. "The city's never done anything. 
They just keep sending letters." Sheftel met Monday with an aide to 
newly sworn-in Mayor Eric Garcetti, who, according to the dispensary 
owner, promised to look into the oversight that's kept him off the 
approved list.

Sheftel thinks the new political regime - mayor, city prosecutor and 
district attorney - may bring the sort of balance this longrunning 
problem needs.

I hope he's right. The stars do seem to be aligning properly:

The state Supreme Court has finally given cities permission to come 
up with their own regulatory routines. Los Angeles has a new crop of 
enlightened officials and support from an electorate that's sensitive 
to patients' needs, but sick of the proliferation of barely disguised 
drug dealing. And the state is considering legislation that would set 
standards for dispensaries and protect patients and legal collectives 
from harassment and prosecution.

But there's more than the principle of compassionate care at stake. 
Medical marijuana is big business.

At more than a few dispensaries, staff members told me they planned 
to reinvent the business if it was forced to shut down. They will 
offer delivery services, buy the licenses of legitimate shops or 
become private clubs - whatever keeps them in the money and out of 
law enforcement's reach.

Even Tampa Wellness isn't giving up. "We are currently looking to 
reopen in a different location," its sign said, offering the shop's 
Twitter handle so patients can check their progress.

It's a cat-and-mouse game that doesn't seem on track to end soon.

Attorney David Welch, who has spent years representing dispensaries, 
may have put it best: "This is just another round in the constant 
soap opera that is medical marijuana in Los Angeles."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom