The number of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries has grown from 5 to 143 in spite the raids conducted by the DEA. Bratton together with Councilman Dennis Zine have both supported rules that banned Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries within 1,000 feet of any day-care facility, school, church, or other houses of worship.
On the other hand, many medical marijuana supporters claim that in these modern times, rules should be able to support sick people needing the medicinal value of marijuana. According to Southern California coordinator for the Americans for Safe Access, Don Duncan, “It’s disgusting in this day and age, when cities and counties are moving to regulate medical marijuana, that the federal government would still be busting people.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided 11 Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries, including five in the San Fernando Valley. The raids of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries transpired after William Barton, Los Angeles Police Chief denounced the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries as magnets of crime, which started to prey on teenagers specifically through handing out fliers at Grant High School in Van Nuys.
According to DEA special agent Sarah Pullen, “(These) enforcement operations send a message to these drug traffickers…The DEA will continue to conduct these enforcement operations and keep our community safe by enforcing federal drug laws.”
Based on a 1996 state ballot measure, medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries can distribute marijuana, provided they are prescribed by doctors. However, federal officials still consider all marijuana use and distribution as illegal.
The Los Angeles Police Commission has released a report that about half of all Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries and clubs were in San Fernando Valley. Such report found increased cases of robberies and aggravated assaults around dispensaries and clubs near Van Nuys and more citizen complaints.
California and Washington State federal agents have raided several medical marijuana distribution centers, where they seized thousands of pounds of the drug, marijuana edibles, weapons, as well as cash. On the other hand, there were no arrests.
Ralph Partridge, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge, who heads the agency’s Los Angeles field office, said his agents served 11 federal search warrants Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries located throughout Los Angeles County. The searches included five locations in West Hollywood, four in the San Fernando Valley and other Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries in Venice and Hollywood.
According to Partridge, the “enforcement operations show that these establishments are nothing more than drug-trafficking organizations bringing criminal activities to our neighborhoods and drugs near our children and schools.” According to the DEA, no state regulation on the cultivation or distribution of marijuana is on hand. Thus, the state leaves the dispensaries of any rules to local jurisdictions that can vary widely.
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