The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors vowed on Tuesday, March 8– in a 4-0 vote — to crack down on illegal marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich recommended setting up an enforcement team of representatives from the Department of Regional Planning, Sheriff’s Department, and the offices of the County Counsel, District Attorney and Treasurer-Tax Collector.
“A streamlined Medical Marijuana Dispensary Enforcement Team will speed up our effort to shut down and prosecute illegal marijuana dispensaries,” Antonovich said. “These illegal operations have routinely attracted a criminal element that threaten community safety and disrupt neighborhoods.”
The county has banned medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas since 2011, using its zoning laws to enforce the prohibition.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained from today’s vote to establish the enforcement team.
The board called for the team to report back in four months on efforts to shut down dispensaries.
Last month, the supervisors directed county lawyers to draft an ordinance that would prohibit all cultivation, manufacturing, laboratory testing and distribution of marijuana in unincorporated areas of the county for at least 45 days, while the county studies the impacts.
That move drew protests from advocates for those who use marijuana to treat and alleviate pain from serious, and even terminal, medical conditions.
CNS-03-08-2016 13:33
