Los Angeles County

Residents of one California city may be seeing the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Years after banning medical marijuana dispensaries everywhere in town, the Long Beach City Council took the first step in September toward bringing them back. It would make the city a rarity outside Los Angeles, where dispensaries are still allowed under tight new ...

An Orange County man who pleaded guilty to running illegal dispensaries in Southern California was sentenced to nearly 22 years in federal prison on July 21, plus more than $4 million in fines and restitution. San Clemente resident John Melvin “Pops” Walker, 56, ran at least nine dispensaries in Long Beach and Orange County. He was indicted last fall by ...

Around the country, medical marijuana is booming and retail dispensaries are opening in increasing numbers. Medical pot shops are now allowed in Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and 10 other states. The growing number of dispensaries across the United States offers badly needed access to patients. Many of them aren’t able to grow their own marijuana, as they were required to ...

The City of Los Angeles released a list late last month of the 134 medical marijuana dispensaries that will be allowed to operate in the city. Each of these clinics registered with City Hall before a moratorium on new pot shops was imposed in 2007. L.A. tried to follow other California counties and ban dispensaries last year, but repealed that ...

The war against medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles continues. Last month, federal prosecutors sent letters to more than 100 pot shops in L.A. County ordering them to shut down or face criminal charges. They also started proceedings to seize two clinics in Long Beach. The threats targeted 103 dispensaries throughout the county, including 71 in the city — in ...

Los Angeles is busy cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries under a law approved by voters in May. Shortly after the ordinance passed, the city informed hundreds of pot dispensaries across the city that they would have to close their doors. Otherwise they would face asset seizure and prosecution. Now the City Attorney’s Office has published a list that specifies ...