Curt Merlo

​The Long Beach City Council voted last night to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in the city, but allowed clubs that won the city's controversial marijuana lottery to remain open for four months. The clubs that were exempted from the ban belong to the Long Beach Collective Assocation, (LBCA) and include 18 dispensaries that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on city permitting fees. As of now, all other clubs operating within city limits that failed to win the lottery or which never participated (and which haven't already been shut down) now face the immediate possibility of being raided by city police and code enforcement officers.

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​Next Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to ban medical marijuana, a move that is strongly supported by the city attorney's office and police department. Their argument in favor of doing so: the federal government is cracking down on marijuana, and the city's pot ordinance, which allowed collectives to grow and distrubute marijuana in return for a $15,000 permit application fee, but which has been called into question by a recent court case, is mostly illegal.

On the other side of the argument is everyone who thinks that the city is wasting its time and money trying to backtrack on a policy it began, and will only be forcing qualified medical marijuana smokers to go to the black market if it bans the dispensaries, bringing the clock back to the wild west days before the city tried to regulate pot, when hundreds of clubs were operating outside city law.

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​Update, Feb. 8 11:45 a.m: According to the Orange County Register, the city of Costa Mesa invited the DEA to raid medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city as early as last October. In a story published yesterday and updated this morning, the Register says it has obtained an Oct. 26 letter from City Attorney Tom Duarte to the U.S. Attorney's office, in which Duarte asked the feds to help eradicate the pot clubs. The Reg also talked to Mayor Gary Monahan who (see below) appeared in a pro-medical marijuana panel discussion within days of the recent raids, and who despite all contrary statements and actions by his staff and colleagues at cit hall, claims he still believes there's a future for dispensaries in Costa Mesa.

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​On Jan. 22, after nearly four years in operation, Garden Grove's Unit D collective finally shut its doors, less than a week after the city suspended its registration program for new marijuana collectives. Unit D was one of three marijuana dispensaries, along with two in Long Beach, that were raided in December 2009, leading to pot sales charges against owners Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, both of whom were convicted last month in Long Beach's superior courthouse. After the raids, Unit D's manager, Paul LaFond, ran the dispensary, and in an interview with the Weekly today, he explained why he chose to close the club.

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Bruce Broadwater

​With the city of Anaheim reportedly cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries, neighboring Garden Grove, which has a ban on pot clubs but last year allowed ones already operating as of June 30, now enjoys the dubious distinction of being Orange County's pot capital. Don't tell that to Garden Grove city councilman--and devout Mormon--Bruce Broadwater, though. "[J]ust to set the record straight, we are not, nor have we ever been, a marijuana-friendly city," he stated in a press release issued by the city's public information office Wednesday.
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​Early yesterday morning, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents conducted a sweep of Costa Mesa marijuana dispensaries, raiding several storefronts as well as homes of collective members. The raids appear to confirm that, as spelled out in an Obama administration memo first reported by the Weekly last October, the federal government's war on California weed is showing no signs of ending anytime soon. A press release issued by the U.S. attorney's office states that three of the collectives were located at 440 Fair Dr., which until last September was the location of the now-closed Herban Elements, operated by Sue Lester, erstwhile candidate for city council and a subject of an OC Weekly cover story last year.


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​UPDATE, Jan. 18, 10:30 AM: The Long Beach City Council has yet again delayed its vote on whether to ban medical marijuana, this time because councilmember Suja Lowenthal was absent from the city council chambers. Ironically, the council had been expected to vote on such a ban last month, but Lowenthal suggested a delay because councilmember Robert Garcia was absent. The vote is now scheduled to take place on Feb. 14, which will likely allow for the California Supreme Court to weigh in on a court ruling that invalidated much of the city's current medical marijuana ordinance, more details of which you can read after the jump.


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​Looks likes sentencing will have to wait for Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, who were convicted last month of marijuana sales in relation to a pair of marijuana dispensaries in Long Beach as well as Garden Grove's Unit D collective. Instead, Long Beach Superior Court Judge Charles D. Sheldon removed himself from the case this morning, citing allegations of his biased behavior in the courtroom which have been extensively reported by the Weekly both in print and online.More >>

​The last few months of 2011 weren't exactly fun for advocates of medical marijuana in California. The federal government threatened to seize properties being used for illegally cultivating or dispensing marijuana, media organizations including this one were put on alert that they could be prosecuted for running ads for dispensaries, and a confusing court case from Long Beach seemed to provide cities with a convenient rationale for banning storefront pot shops.

But the news wasn't all bad--apparently, the fourth quarter of last year  saw a major boost for the so-called Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative, which is slated for this November's ballot and if passed, would effectively legalize marijuana for recreational use by adults.

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​Remember that Rand Corporation study from earlier this year that claimed crime actually increased in L.A. neighborhoods where cops closed medical marijuana dispensaries? The one that forgot to include crime statistics compiled by the Los Angeles Police Department?? The one that Rand had to retract because it was pretty much completely worthless???

Well, if you do, it will come as no surprise that the Santa Monica-based think tank's somewhat, uh, flawed, report is number five on Scientific American's list of 2011's biggest retractions.

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