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Want More Crime in Your City? Close Your Local Medical Marijuana Dispensary, Says Study
September 26, 2011 – Medicinal (and, ahem, recreational) marijuana aims to soothe, ease, and relax users; take away said users’ pot and be prepared to face the consequences. A report released Tuesday by the RAND Corp., a Santa Monica-based think tank, revealed that after hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries were forced to close in Los…
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L.A. City Council Votes to Amend Medical Marijuana Ordinance
January 23, 2011 – The Los Angeles City Council, repeatedly warned that the city risked a return to the days when medical marijuana dispensaries were opening at an astonishing clip, voted Friday to amend its ordinance, altering key provisions that a judge declared unconstitutional last month. The changes were forced on the council by the…
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With Law Hazy, Defiant LA Pot Clinics Open Again
LOS ANGELES — Months after Los Angeles got serious about running a majority of medical marijuana dispensaries out of town by passing strict regulations, the ubiquitous shops are cropping up again. A judge recently scratched key portions of the ordinance city officials spent years crafting, noting in his Dec. 10 ruling granting a preliminary injunction…
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Medical Marijuana Patient Advocates Claim Victory in California Attorney General Race
November 26, 2010 – Oakland, CA — Medical marijuana patient advocates breathed a collective sigh of relief today as Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley acknowledged defeat in his bid for California Attorney General. Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country’s leading medical marijuana advocacy organization, partnered with the American Cannabis Research Institute (ACRI) and…
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How Many L.A. Pot Clinics Will Survive Crackdown?
September 28, 2010 – In Los Angeles, medical marijuana dispensaries once outnumbered Starbucks. But after months of a major crackdown, the number of pot clinics has plummeted. Now, a series of lawsuits and counterlawsuits over city regulations is playing out in court. And it’s still uncertain how many dispensaries will be left in L.A. when…
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Judge Delays Decision on Enforcement of L.A.’s Medical Marijuana Law
July 1, 2010 – A judge Thursday put off a decision on whether to bar Los Angeles from enforcing its new medical marijuana ordinance against four collectives, leaving the scores of dispensaries that have filed suit in limbo more than three weeks after the law became effective. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony J.…
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California: Time to End the Marijuana Charade?
June 8, 2010 – When Brent Poer moved into his quaint Los Feliz home a year ago, he knew the boxy green building at the corner of his cul-de-sac was a marijuana dispensary. He figured coexisting with Hyperion Healing would be easy. “I honestly thought that potheads would be really cool and laid-back,” said Poer,…
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L.A. Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Being Told: Move it, Bud
June 7, 2010 – The Kush Clubhouse and the Medical Kush Beach Club boast killer views of the ocean, and that’s what Sean Cardillo says he was after when he opened the only medical marijuana dispensaries on the Venice Beach boardwalk. “It’s proven that being by the beach can actually heal a person and make…
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L.A. Faces ‘Years of Litigation’ Over Medical Marijuana Shops
May 11, 2010 – Los Angeles is facing litigation after its crackdown on the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries, the WSJ reports. For years, the city sat by as the number of shops soared to about 600; it’s now trying to pare that back to only 186. Yet many dispensaries are launching legal challenges to…
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Los Angeles to Close Hundreds of Marijuana Shops, Tighten Rules
May 3 (Bloomberg) — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed an ordinance that will shut hundreds of marijuana dispensaries in the city and impose stricter regulations on the 186 remaining stores. The ordinance signed on April 30 caps a four-year effort by the city to address the proliferation of pot parlors, which the Los Angeles…