The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

County to establish Medical Marijuana Dispensary Enforcement Team

by •

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors vowed Tuesday — in a 4-0 vote — to crack down on illegal marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas, including Quartz Hill, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles.

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 Tuesday’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.

Previous related story: County cracking down on marijuana dispensaries

–

41 comments for "County to establish Medical Marijuana Dispensary Enforcement Team"

  1. Please Please understand that medical marijuana saves way more lives then it does kill! you would rather innocent people suffer and even die rather then allow them access to a completely safe and easily made medication? How dumb and selfish……

    • Marijuana doesn’t save any lives. It doesn’t cure anything. It’s a scam so weed addicts can get their weed with Obamacare.

      • While it doesn’t cure anything, if someone has chronic pain due to cancer or other issues it is a pain reliever that does not have the damaging effects of the typical chemical based pharmaceuticals. In that regard it may save lives, as the former direct link from chronic pain to liver damage is broken.

  3. Like seriously really Leave them alone its friggin weed for gods sake. Like your worried about these weed shops that aint doing the city no harm if any thing its reducing alot of people from getting ripped off or robbed on the streets ..The only thing u should try to enforce is making sure its patients have legal medical marijuana cards …other than that supply these shops with security .Show your support to the people who need these type of shops around because what an inconvienance for cancer patients , Hiv and Aids patients who rely on this medical herbal remedy to ease the pain they suffer . So all your telling this community is screw our health problems some of sadly have .You dont care if some of us our suffering daily ? You are gonna it harder for some paitients go out and get there meds.? Get real Crack down on gangs and child molesters and sex trafficking with these young girls out here in av. Why dont u worry about protecting these young girls fron these pimps? Worried about a weed shop really.. Lancaster our city.1# Aint nothing to do our here .

  4. THS DISPENSARY IN LAKE LOS ANGELES SELL SYNTHETHIC MARIJUANA THAT CAUSES HEART ATTACKS.

    • BOGUS INFORMATION Reefer Madness Ronnie. the whole play is about money BUT THIS TASK FORCE WILL COST MORE IN TAX MONEY THAN IT WILL BE RECOVERING. we the taxpayers will be paying DRP employees, LASD JACKBOOTS, LACO DIST ATTY LAWYERS and TAX COLLECTORS. what Medical Marijuana has turned is a MAJOR windfall resulting in A HUGE EXPANSION OF THE LACO COUNTY EMPLOYEE WELFARE PROGRAM……WHEN COUNTY EMPLOYEES LIVE IN BEAUTIFUL HOMES DRIVE NEW CARS OR COUNTY CARS AND HAVE ENOUGH EXPENDABLE INCOME OR EXPENSE ACCOUNTS TO ALLOW INVESTMENT….who works for who? and then what…another law suit when LASD SHOCK TROOPS are kicking down doors and assaulting law abiding cannabis patients disabled AND tortured by CANCER, AIDS….or children ravaged by seizures…..NOBODY DIES FROM WEED but we have over 500,000 Americans dying a year from CANCER RESULTING FROM SMOKING an even greater amount dying from ALCOHOL ABUSE AND TRAFFIC CRASHES OF DRUNK DRIVERS. then theres OUR OWN “medicine” cabinets where Americans DIE FROM DRUG OVERDOSE. what is truly ironic is the self righteousness w which the LACO Antonovitch lead Board of Supervisors REFUSES to investigate the THOUSANDS OF DOCTORS WHO ARE WRITING MILLIONS OF FALSIFIED DOCTORS RECOMMENDATIONS TO HEALTHY PEOPLE….for $35. GET angry enough to VOTE because speeds right but he uses the wrong word. a more appropriate word…is criminal. the AV Cannabis Chamber of Commerce is the voice of “THE GREEN PARTY” of the Antelope Valley where “We the People” of the GREEN PARTY will apply the principles ingrained in us by OUR Founding Fathers…..

      “….That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…”

      that’s from The Declaration of Independance and what they write of is when government becomes tyrannical and oppresses the people, depriving them of their God given rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. remember it always starts by denial of FREE SPEECH or POLITICAL VOICE…think about that. then give me a call 24/7

      Tks for reading FB Pg = Antelope Valley Cannabis Chamber of Commerce

      Gregory Hernandez III

      Praetorian.Omega6@yahoo.com 818.454.6675 24/7

      Hisp. Org for Peace and Equality……BECAUSE EQUALITY IS DEMOCRACY
      Hispanic Representative LLA…………BY COMMITMENT
      Civic Activist…………………………….BY CHOICE
      LLARTC assoc…………………………..BECAUSE LLA IS MY HOME
      High Desert Democrats……………… BECAUSE ITS TIME
      AV Cannabis Chamber of Comm…….BECAUSE ITS THE LAW (700 strong)
      Administrative Terrorist………………BECAUSE IT IS OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY

      O

    • That’s why the states should be focusing on keeping the dispensary’s running efficiently instead of wasting time on debating whether or not its a drug or a medication. last i checked people get high off of plenty of man made medications that doctors prescribe. wouldn’t you rather the medication you put in your body help you rather then cause more problems in the long run?

  5. Det. Madrid, one of the detectives focusing on marijuana collectives, Michael Antonovich City Supervisor riding the same banana boat as Madrid are blinded, we’re patients not criminals, we pay taxes, we provide for community, we raised toys for Christmas. when i see crack deals go down all the time on 10th, 5th, 11th streets and more that i don’t know about. where are the people suppose to get their medicine from.! unfortunately the elders have to go to the streets to get their medicine. what progress is the city doing but causing a chain of crimes because of collectives being closed. we need our collectives back up.! The Highway Collective carried the best medicine in town! and best customer services! shout out to the whole 710 family. always took care of their patients. always left satisfied and appreciated as a patient! not many clubs like this 1. i gladly donated to this collective to keep up the great service and they did! all respectful volunteers! I hope this city can do something for us patients! – Anonymous B

    • Whatever, these so called law enforcement officers, are attempting to accomplish, they are doing it at the cost of our Bill of Rights. I have video evidence of at least 8 LA county Sheffiffs disregarding the very document the swore to uphold. When we are governed by the lawless, anarchy will ensue. P.S. Detective Springer, and Seargant Bones, Aloha!

      • mikey is on a another rant about drugs. He probably has had a problem in the past and is now compensating for it by being a crusader.

        Somthin’ is fishy with him.

    • Agreed! The Highway Collective as well as the other dispensaries in our community are more of a blessing in disguise then most people are willing to accept. I think that our community needs to stop worrying about how much money they will be missing out on and understand that you will be decreasing criminal rates. By lessening the amount of marijuana distribution on the streets we create a safer and more controlled environment for our people to receive their medication. Yes i mean medication when i say medication. Medical marijuana has been falsely labeled as a drug simply for the reason that it was grown wild and not man-made. Things obviously haven’t been running very smoothly with marijuana being sold on the streets so lets try something else!!!

  7. so having cancer and needing my canabis to eat,sleep,stop nausea,and sleep makes me a drugie?funny I just beat cancer twice thank’s to my cbd oil that was being donated to me.by a canabis clininic on pearblossom highway.crazy,the owner was treated like a felon.he had no civil rites they distroyed the place broke the cameras.like really?yet,I have to drive home and see a man shot across the st from my apartment.cuzz he was dealing real drug’s.so just wondering if kid’s ages 6 and up are living off a cbd strain called charlottes web in colarodo and cnn had a full story go read.how are they we the people who need this to live.how are we going to make it if you close all these clinics?

  8. The AV alone has over 6,000 sex offenders and TWICE the amount of section 8 than LA County, but let’s focus on cannabis everyone! LMAO LAPD labeled the AV CALIFORNIAS METH LAB, but med shops are damaging our communities?! What a joke.

  9. Nevermind we voted for this in like 1996,Republican tards gotta keep the prisons full and fight the dumb fight.Losers like Mike A gotta go.

  11. The LA County BofS are ‘closing’ down the current marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas, then they will wait a month or so, and proceed to ‘allow’ ‘new’ dispensaries to open, in said unincorporated areas, under their control. One sad part about this is that the LA CO. BofS actually believe the people are so ignorant they have no idea of their true motives. The other sad part is that many people are ignorant of the politicians TRUE MOTIVES! PLEASE WAKE UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!!

  12. In November the Measure to legalize pot will pass and these efforts will be another waste of money. On top of this they want more dirt bikes. Probably so they can go out in the desert and get high.

  13. It looks like the County Board of Supervisors must be behind on their studies. Just look at Washington State, Colorado and Oregon. They are bringing in millions of dollars in tax revenue and have created thousands of good paying jobs. Even Orange County Dispensaries have gone Union, making $13.75 hr. + benefits. It seems like the County Supervisors are acting like Neanderthals without the ability to reason deductively. They should allow this legal MMJ to be monitored and allow it to prove its viability. There are many people who need this medicine.

    • Lancaster should lead the way in this endeavor. Both the Mayor and Vice Mayor have extensive experience. Think of the revenues. It will more than cover the money lost on the Eye in the Sky, Section 8 lawsuit, Ecolution, and the dozens of lawsuits and payoffs that were a result of the Mayor’s big mouth.

      • Yes! Make it legal and make money off it! Rex and Marv did back in the day. They can show us how its done.

  14. Well, there’s always Rosamond, Ca. It’s not far from the A.V.
    The focus should be on sex offenders, and meth labs.

  15. They must have nephews and cousins and son-in-law’s that need jobs in law-enforcement if there’s money to be made look for local government to try to take over

  16. VOTE AGAINST WHO EVER ANTONOVITCH ENDORSES FOR DIST 5 SUPERVISOR. everyone whos posted is right we have a right via the mandate of the people. but since 1978 this criminal has constantly acted contrary to the will of the people. SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT????? Come to FACEBOOK and join the High Desert Growers (membership 500 and growing) whose political wing the AV Cannabis Chamber of Commerce (150 cannabis activist on FACEBOOK) employ the political process to expel those career politicians who have consistently DISREGARDED THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE UNLAWFULLY TAKING OUR RIGHTS.

  17. Spend more time getting rid of meth and heroin houses… Maybe work a bit harder on getting sex offenders off the street.. Spend our money and time and important things… This is a shame and really just shows the unintelligent people we have supporting our city :-/

  19. Medical marijuana is legal. This is just circumventing the law and the will of the people. We all know that they are trying to figure out how to get a bigger piece of the pie. That being said, I find it horrific that these legislators would withhold non traditional medications from people who have the required documentation to use it.

  20. It is legal for medical use so where are people supposed to buy it ? I can’t wait until it get legalized all over . Boy howdy the antelope valley is going to trying everything to get a piece of that pie !!! Read my lips.-

    • Check WeedMaps and have it delivered by a service. HWS Healthywaysolutions, for example.

  21. If they spent as much time cracking down on street gangs as they do marijuana dispensaries, we’d live in a much safer state.