What happens when I take a few days off blogging about medical marijuana to write a 4500-word cover story? Why Uncle Sam comes along and starts harassing himself some cannabis collectives!
Thank god that our war on drugs is so efficient that the feds have the time and resources to track down those nefarious pot dispensaries that are still wackadoodle enough to operate storefront dispensaries. I mean, they're just asking for it, right?
This time, the long arm of the feds hit LA County, sending out some 100 letters threatening collectives that they were operating in violation of federal law. Most of those collectives were in South LA and the city's Harbor area.
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Letters also went to clubs in Long Beach, a city that first allowed clubs to spread, then tried to bilk them via a mess of a lottery system, then refused to grant any permits before finally banning the clubs–had already harassed with raids and fines.
Besides the letters, the DEA has also threatened to seize a pair of buildings in Long Beach that allowed the Healing Tree Association, located on Anaheim Blvd., and the Naples Wellness Center on 2nd St. to operate. As the Weekly has previously reported, several collectives who have been subjected to police raids are suing the city. There is also movement among marijuana activists to put a voter's initiative on the ballot that would force the city to give regulating cannabis clubs another go-round. Stay tuned!
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Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).