Los Angeles’ medical-weed scene: How not to regulate dispensaries
Colorado politicians are delving head first into the state's medical-marijuana conundrum, developing statewide regulation bills and counter bills, not to mention hammering out municipal rules city by city. That's a good thing, since the last thing we want is for any of our communities to turn out like the pot boondoggle that is Los Angeles.
L.A. Weekly, a newspaper owned by Westword's parent company, recently published a lengthy exposé on the city's medical marijuana rules -- or, more accurately, its lack thereof.
In 2007, Los Angeles City Council passed a moratorium on new pot dispensaries, so it could figure out how to regulate the businesses, 186 of which had opened in a rush before the city weighed in. But many dispensaries continued to open thanks to a municipal loophole that allowed them to set up shop if they claimed a fiscal "hardship." By the Weekly's count, more than 400 dispensaries have now opened since the moratorium. Talk about a leaky sieve.
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